Brothers of Destiny
by AParselmouthsPatronous
Summary: This is the sequel to my other story But Life Happened. You need to read that in order for this to make sense. Now that Arthur knows the truth, what can Merlin do? And what does this mean for gwaine? EDIT - please note that post ch16 there is very VERY mild slash, ie just kissing, but PLEASE don't let that put you off!
1. No Magic or No Us

**AN - hello again! it's me! I'm back, after about two weeks. from now on, my regular update day will usually be a thursday, and there will always be something new on a thursday - this i promise. there may also however, depending on how well I'm doing writing this, be new stuff at other times as well. see you at the bottom! enjoy!**

**disclaimer for all chapters (because i CANNOT be bothered to write the same thing for every chapter) - I do not own this. i do not own these characters. i do not own these locations. i do not own anything in the whole world apart from the plot and about £2.50. I don't even have any GCSE's yet!**

**also - this is a sequel to my other story But Life Happened. you need to read that first in order for this to make any sense. happy reading!**

**Brothers of Destiny**

No Magic or No Us

Merlin was sleeping - again. I suppose it wasn't really that unusual, given the last few weeks, but it still annoyed me. I needed to talk to him. Now.

I'd been procrastinating, not wanting to talk about it, not wanting to have to face what it might mean. For us, our friendship, or for the kingdom.

It had been about a week since Merlin had first woken up after he…died. He had been awake on and off after that, and never for more than about three hours at a time. But there had always been masses of people milling around, and I needed to talk to him privately.

"Merlin!" I hissed "Merlin!"

He groaned and opened his eyes "Arthur?"

"I need to talk to you." I told him insistently.

"Hold on." he told me sleepily. Slowly, he sat up and rested his back on the wall behind him. "Yes?" he asked, not completely amused with me waking him up this early.

"Gwaine!" I called out of the door. Slowly, he entered, and grinned at Merlin.

"Gwaine!" he said, shocked. I knew for a fact that Gwaine hadn't come to see Merlin once in his recovery, apart from when he had first woken up. What I didn't know was why. And it needed, along with other things, to be sorted out.

"Now" I said firmly "we are going to talk sensibly and calmly like adults, with no big fusses made, and no voices raised."

"About what?" Merlin asked.

"Everything." I said firmly.

Gwaine looked shocked. "Everything!? That's a pretty large area to cover, Arthur. Why don't we just stick to the events of the last few weeks?"

The question made both him and Merlin laugh, which was so good to see that I cracked a smile too.

"You know what I mean, Gwaine." I told him "we need to talk about the battle and afterwards." the colour had drained from Merlin's face. Clearly, he hadn't confronted his demons from the battle yet.

"Now." I said "Lets start at the beginning." I turned to face Merlin. "Your death."

"What about it?" he asked brusquely.

"What happened?" Gwaine asked gently. Merlin's face softened as he looked into Gwaine's, and I got the impression that Merlin was got to be far more willing to open up considering that Gwaine had asked the question rather than me.

Merlin let out a long breath. "Okay." he said eventually "How much did Gaius tell you?"

"All of it." I said simply " All of it from Lady Helena right up until the battle."

"So you know about Freya?"

I winced. "Yes, we do." I began "And can I just say how _sorry_ I am…"

Merlin cut me off.

"Arthur." he said firmly. "I told you before - I forgave you for it all years ago. So leave it."

There was no real way to reply to this, so I simply said "Thank you."

"Now." Merlin said "One more thing." I got the feeling that now he knew he would actually have to talk about it, he wanted to get it all out. And I certainly wasn't going to stop him.

He addressed both of us "What do you know About the Lake of Avalon?" Gwaine gasped.

"_No!_" he said. "No way! You were at the Lake of Avalon?"

"Hold it." I asked. "What's the Lake of Avalon?"

"The Lake of Avalon" said Merlin sadly "is the place people go upon their death. No mortal has ever seen it."

"But you…" I began

"I am no mere mortal" he interrupted calmly. "I'm not boasting, but that's the truth. I will most likely live a lot longer than either of you." he looked sad at this, and shot Gwaine a thoughtful look, before continuing.

"I ended up at the Lake of Avalon - with Freya." I gasped

"Oh, Merlin"

"She told me" he continued without looking up "that it wasn't my time to die yet, and that you, Arthur, would need my help to build Albion."

Gaius had explained the legends to me, so I wasn't maybe as surprised as Merlin had thought I would be, however, if I was, he didn't comment on it.

"Then I woke up on the pyre." he said simply "And you know the rest."

And I did.

"So." said Gwaine, and we both looked at him. "What do we do now?" Merlin looked thoughtful for a minute. "Now" he said "We lay everything out on the table and assess the situation. But" he continued, holding up a finger "Not right now. I'm actually still recovering, and am really tired. Besides, Gaius said I should be up by tomorrow at the latest anyway."

"But if you're still recovering…." Gwaine began, but Merlin simply said "Magic" and left it at that.

"So - tomorrow?" I broke the silence.

"Tomorrow" Merlin confirmed, smiling.

Tomorrow came around a lot sooner than any of us had expected, and soon we were all sitting together, but in my chambers this time rather than Merlin's cramped room.

"Okay." said Merlin "So I'll start." he took a deep breath.

"So, everything I said on the battlefield was true, and I mean everything. But, for you to truly understand why I am the way I am, you need a bit of history. And some of it," he looked at me "You're not going to like.

So, it really starts about 30 years ago, before any of us were born and magic was still free in the land. Now, Queen Ygraine was unable to conceive a child, and she and you father, Arthur, the King, were desperate.

So Uther spoke to Nimeuh, who was, at the time, Camelot's court sorcerer." I gasped. I hadn't expected this at all.

"Nimeuh gave Uther what he wanted, but warned him that there would be a price to pay. She told him that in order for a life to be created, one would have to be given. But he didn't care. He was just thrilled that he would finally have an heir.

And so, Arthur" he said to me, a look of sorrow on his face. "You were conceived, with the aid of magic. Have no doubt, you are definitely your parents children, you just didn't…..come about in the usual way.

But Uther paid for his careless disregard of what would be taken from him. For, Arthur, as you grew inside your mother, she became weaker, and upon your birth, her life was taken to replace yours." Merlin didn't look at me, and just kept talking. Gwaine had been silent the entire time.

"Uther, blinded with rage that his beloved wife had been taken from him, turned on Nimeuh. He said that she had known that Ygraine would die. Nimeuh protested, and there was no way that she could have known whose life would be taken. But your father still blamed her, banishing her from Camelot, along with magic in any form. This marked the start of the Great Purge."

Merlin took a deep breath and looked up at last, an indescribable expression on his face.

"Now." he began again. "This does have a point, so bear with me.

Magic is a part of nature. It always will be. It's like…..it's like water. If you were to drain several lakes and rivers, the water wouldn't just disappear. It would be diverted elsewhere.

With so many magic users being killed, their magic had nowhere to go. Usually, it just passes on to another when they learn, but no-one was learning, because they were frightened. At the same time, so much magic was being released because of the death of its users, that there was no where for it to go." He took a deep breath. "So it came to me. I don't know why, possibly because my father was a Dragonlord, but all of the free magic floating around was transferred into me.

Some people learn magic, others have it develop later in life, but they can usually ignore it."

I looked me straight in the eye. "I, however, am the only one I am aware of that has had the power from the moment they were born."

I gasped at the inclinations of this. "But that would mean…"

"That I was doomed to Camelot's law's the moment I was born? Yes. Luckily, I was born in Cenrid's kingdom, but that's only on the border." he looked at me again "I honestly tried for a time, Arthur, not to use my magic, when I was a child, but it nearly killed me. Without an outlet, the power dove inwards and began attacking my major organs. In order to comply with Camelot's laws, I nearly killed myself. Also, I am the most powerful magic that ever has or ever will live, and effectively the leader of the druids. They call me Emrys" he looked quite abashed at this, and I was about to change the subject, but Gwaine got there first.

"Okay." he asked "But what about me?"

Merlin appeared to contemplate this for a minute "Hmmmm." he said "I'm not entirely sure about you, Gwaine. I think, to full understand, we need to talk to the dragon.. I can try to help you, though. First of all we need to work out what you are."

"What?" Gwaine looked startled.

"What kind of classification of magic user you are." he clarified." You're not a Warlock, as you weren't born with magic, I gave it to you. At the same time, you didn't learn it, either, so you're not a sorcerer."

"What are you?" he asked Merlin curiously. I though I knew this one so I answered "A warlock?"

"Sort of." he said. He also looked a bit worried. "Technically, I am a warlock, but I'm also - not strictly speaking - human. I literally _am_ magic. If it were to die, I would die with it. I am a creature of magic, just like the dragons."

"Ah, yes" said Gwaine. "The dragon. I have a bone to pick with you, Merlin. Why the hell didn't you tell me he was that _annoying!_"

Merlin laughed. He looked thrilled. Gwaine did not.

"So it's not just me he's like that with!" exclaimed Merlin "That's fantastic. As a matter of interest, how did he address you, Gwaine?"

"As Sir Gwaine." Merlin's jaw dropped.

"You mean he used your name!? Now that's not fair. He always calls me 'Young Warlock' in that annoying creepy voice of his."

They both laughed, and then, suddenly, Merlin winced. "Apparently," he said "Kilgharrah disliked my description of his annoying creepy voice."

Gwaine laughed again, but I was shocked. "You can hear him!?" I asked weakly "In your head?"

"Yeah." Merlin laughed "I can also speak to anyone like this, although they can't reply unless they have magic too."

"So eventually" Gwaine surmised "We'll be able to talk telepathically?" he asked Merlin.

"Sort of" said Merlin.

"So that's you two." I said. "But what about me?"

"That, Arthur," said Merlin heavily "is entirely up to you." he looked me square in the face .

"You have to decide whether to kick us out, or to accept magic. Because, Arthur, there isn't any other way. You couldn't jus ignore it, not now you know, it wouldn't be fair. For any of us. So you need to decide." He exchanged a glance with Gwaine, who nodded.

"No magic or no us."

I looked at them both. I mean _really_ looked at them.

I looked at Merlin, and saw, yes, the most powerful magic user that would ever live and just by being here was against at least half the laws in Camelot, but also my life saver (literally), my best friend. My brother.

And then I looked at Gwaine. Gwaine, who would give up his life without second thought for either of us in an instant. Gwaine who had proclaimed Merlin his first ever friend. Gwaine who had been banished for saving my life. I decided.

"Tomorrow morning" I announced "the law on the ban on magic will be repealed. From now on, only evil magic will be punished. All others will be free."

Merlin's response was so unexpected, that I was stunned into silence.

He leapt forward and hugged me.

After twenty seconds or so, I began to get quite uncomfortably. I could also see Gwaine smirking.

"Erm..Merlin?"

He let go at last, looking faintly embarrassed.

"Er…sorry." he said sheepishly. "But I've been waiting for that for about ten years now."

I was stunned at that. I couldn't imagine anything being so important that I would wait ten years for it, let alone if it was that my existing was to become legal. Something else had piqued my curiosity, though

"Er…Merlin?" I asked. He looked at me. "Could you….could you show me some magic?" I asked him. His face split into the widest grin I had ever seen and he nodded wildly.

Cautiously, he held out his hand, and a flame appeared on it. It was then that I remembered what Gaius had said about him not needing to speak the spells he was using anymore.

He let the flame dance on his palm for a minute, before it shot up into the air, twisting and turning at about eye level. Suddenly, it formed the dragon of the Pendragon crest, before dissolving into sparks. I sat there stunned. After a few minutes, Gwaine broke the silence sufficiently.

"Wow."

Merlin grinned. "All you ever saw was the bad side of magic, Arthur." he told me "But this is some of the good."

And he was right, I realised. But "That was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" I breathed, and Merlin grinned again.

"That was nothing." he told me "tomorrow, after magic has been freed, I'll show you something _really _impressive."

"Ah, yes!" I said "That reminds me. Tomorrow. Merlin, you're fired." he looked up at me, shocked. Gwaine, who I had spoken about this with beforehand shook his head and said "Honestly, Arthur!" I decided to ignore him, and carried on with what I had been saying.

"Instead," I said, ignoring the horrified look on Merlin's face. "I want you to be my Court Sorcerer. If you agree, I'll announce it tomorrow with the repelling of the law."

There was a stunned silence where I thought Merlin was going to hug me again, but instead he said "Thank you, Arthur."

In my head, however, I heard his voice say 'Thank you, my brother.'

I grinned.

**AN - did you enjoy it? if so, leave a review! if not, also leave a review! i want to know how I did, as I actually had real trouble starting this. once i started, i was fine, but it was getting started that was the problem.**

**also - for anyone who is interested - MY LINES COMPETITION IS STILL OPEN, and will be throughout most of this story. basically, to make things interesting, i want you lovely people to give me some lines to use in this story. they can be as wierd or as wacky as you like - I don't care!**

**some examples that i already have are -**

**- Gwaine, what are you doing with that parrot?**

**- Arthur, what are you wearing?**

**- the Tower of Doom!**

**please give me some more guys! I'll give you a mention if you do! the same applies for if you review! (which is kind of wierd, because you have to leave a review...in order to give me the line...never mind just go with it :D**

**-APP**


	2. Waiting and More

**I'm back! hooray! hope you enjoy this. massive thank you to 'Guest', SpanglyPony, Merlinisawesome, and EragonandMurtagh for leaving reviews, and to Merlinisawesome and EragonandMurtagh for suggesting lines. thanks guys! keep up the ... good work?**

**disclaimer - see chapter one (can i do that?)**

I was waiting. Again.

All my life I had been waiting, but this was the closest I'd ever been to my waiting being over.

At this particular point in time, I was waiting outside of Camelot's council chambers, while inside, Arthur addressed it's inhabitants. I had performed a spell on myself so as I could hear what he was saying to them.

"As you know" he was telling them "a couple of weeks ago, some truly amazing events happened, of which most, if not all, affect you. The first of these, is that Morgana was defeated, but I am sure most of you have already heard that. What is more extraordinary, was who defeated her. Most of you will have heard rumors, and now I can confirm them. It was none other than my manservant, Merlin."

As he said my name, I knew my waiting was almost up, and I entered, the doors flying open as I approached them. I stopped a few paces in as the doors closed behind me with the help of magic. Everyone was looking at me, and Arthur had an exasperated look in his face, as if to say _did you have to make it so dramatic?_ I ignored this, and did nothing more, just looked up the hall to where the king was standing. I could almost hear Gwaine sniggering at his expression.

We had planned this, the three of us, the night before. We knew exactly what was going to happen, how it was going to happen, and when. If all went to plan, that was. Not a single person in the whole of the seven kingdoms knew except for us three. And possibly the great dragon, if he had been sneaking a look at my thoughts again.

Arthur had started speaking again. "He revealed, in front of all of us, that he had a gift. A power. Magic. He used this gift for good in front of all of us."

I took a step forwards.

"At first I didn't believe him. How could a sorcerer have hidden in front of us, in front of my _father _ten years. As my manservant, no less!"

I frowned slightly at his use of the word 'sorcerer', and took another step forward.

"My idiotic, overbearing, foolish manservant, who has saved my life more times than I can count, and has a heart big enough and caring enough to protect and fill an entire kingdom."

I smirked, and took a two more steps forward.

"As a reward for getting rid of this kingdom's greatest tyrant, I have decided that he won't be punished too harshly for keeping his magic from me. As he told me, it was only self-preservation."

Gwaine smirked visibly as I faked a shocked expression. I knew exactly what Arthur was doing. I took another two steps forward.

By now I was about half-way down the hall, and level with the first of the many nobles that Camelot boasted. I could see them staring at me shocked, as I drew level with them. I winked at one of the ones closest to me, and all around him gasped. I could hear Gwaine snickering at their reaction.

I could see the others stood at the front now, rather than just Arthur. Stood next to him was Gwen, and behind her to the side, Gaius. I frowned to myself. Gwen. I needed to talk to her about these last few weeks, and soon.

Arthur was _still _talking.

"As his punishment" he said, and I pretended to look anxious, even though I already knew what he was going to say.

"As his punishment, I have fired him, effective immediately."

There were gasps from the back of the hall where the servants were standing, and I pretended to look dismayed, taking four or five steps forward. I was now level with the knight of the round table, stood at the front of the mass of people, and only a few feet from Arthur. I could see Gwen and Gaius' shocked expressions, and had to try hard not to laugh. All of the aforementioned knights were looking apprehensively at me, except for Gwaine, who was grinning openly.

'_Knock it off, moron!' _I told him mentally. He just kept grinning.

Our plan was now coming to a climax, only a few more minutes of waiting to go. Arthur was beginning his final bit of speech.

"Instead, I am offering him a new job." There were a few ripples of murmuring at that, before silence was restored, the whole hall except for the three of us hanging onto his every word.

I took one, final, single step forward

"He is to be my court sorcerer."

Larger ripples, spreading further and lasting longer than before, swept through the crowd, until silence was once again restored in the hall.

I took the final few steps of my journey, and at last, my waiting was over. I knelt in front of Arthur, and began my oath.

I had come up with the wording of the oath myself, and Arthur had quickly approved it. This was the only part of the whole process we hadn't practiced, as me saying the oath would make it binding and unrepeatable due to the magic of it, so I just hoped it would go to plan.

"I, Merlin Emrys, warlock, do solemnly swear to you, King Arthur, in front of all these witnesses, that I shall never use my magic for evil, nor abuse it. I understand that if I were to do so, you would cast me from the kingdom or kill me where I stand. I swear to protect Camelot and all of it's inhabitants who do not wish it ill, as my duty as Camelot's court sorcerer. This I swear upon my magic. I also swear that neither the Great Dragon, Kilgharrah, nor the white dragon, Aithuasia, shall harm any inhabitants of Camelot without prior order of you, my king. This I swear my Dragonlord status. So mote it be."

"So mote it be." Arthur repeated, and the oath was binding. As the magic swirled around us visibly, I grinned. The waiting was finally over.

It started slowly, from the knights of the round table, but soon the hall was ringing with applause. Arthur and I clasped hands, and he pulled me to my feet. As he did so, he whispered to me "Well done, my brother." I stood up, and placed myself to his right, to signify my role as his advisor and friend.

There was nothing more I could wish for. It had gone perfectly.

That was when the roar from the courtyard was heard.

* * *

Despite having been one of the furthest from the door, I was first into the courtyard, quickly followed by Arthur and Gwaine. All three of our mouths opened in shock, and I felt my heart sink. _Oh no._

As the rest of Camelot entered behind us, they to were shocked to see the two fabled dragons sitting in the courtyard.

"MERLIN!" the Great Dragon roared when he saw me "What have you DONE?!"

"I don't know." I said irritably "Why don't you tell me?" the dragon looked as irritated as I felt.

"Merlin, have you any idea what's happened!?" he asked me. He sounded agitated.

"No, what's happened?" I asked distractedly, still trying to work out what I could tell the crowds of Camelot.

"MERLIN!" he roared again "THE GREAT PROPHECIES HAVE ALTERED!"

_That _got my attention.

"WHAT! How?"

"I do not know, young warlock, but it greatly affects you, your king, and your apprentice." By my apprentice, I supposed he meant Gwaine, and I paled. Gwaine was now stuck in this mess as well. I turned to look at him, to see him looking right back at me, unafraid. I sighed.

"Fine." I said "How have they altered?"

At this Arthur cleared his throat audibly. I turned to look at him, and he in turn looked at the gobsmacked crowds standing behind us. Oops. I'd forgotten about them. I turned back to face the dragon.

"Kilgharrah, can we take this….somewhere else?" I asked him. "And…can you take us?"

"Who is us?" he asked.

"Arthur, Gwaine, and myself."

"Fine. But do not make this a regular occurrence, Merlin."

"Of course. That's what you said last time, too."

I once again turned to face Arthur and Gwaine, who were looking at me curiously. I lowered my voice so that no-one else could hear me. "Arthur, I don't know how long we'll be. Do you want to….." I trailed off, hoping he'd understood. Of course, he had.

"Gwen." he called her over. "You, of course, are to be in charge while we are gone. Tell Leon that he's in charge of the knights should anything happen while we're gone." she nodded to show she understood, kissed Arthur quickly, and walked off to relay his orders to Leon.

I turned back to Kilgharrah, who had sunk down so we could climb onto his back. I led the way, quickly climbing up with practised ease. Then, I pulled Arthur up, and together, we pulled up Gwaine. From the top of the dragon, I witnessed the citizens of Camelot looking shocked about their king, new court sorcerer, and a knight sitting on the back of a mighty dragon without fear. I suppose it helped that the new court sorcerer was a Dragonlord, but no doubt there would still be a few who thought I was kidnapping them.

talking (or thinking) of less savoury things, I quickly cast a protection charm over Camelot, as well as one that would tell me if something bad was to happen. I felt Gwaine shiver in front of me as the magic flew through him, and I frowned. That was strange.

Before I could dwell any more on the thought, Kilgharrah started to take off, beating big, powerful strokes against the air with his wings.

* * *

There was no communication between the three of us in the air. Not that we would've been able to hear each other anyway. Or that I would have said much. I was too busy wondering about how the prophecies had changed, and how it affected the future of Albion.

We set down about half an hour later in a cave, where I presumed the two dragons lived. We slid off of Kilgharrah back, and I turned to face him. I had remembered something.

"Have you actually met Arthur and Gwaine before? At least under friendly circumstances?" I asked him curiously. In reply, he said

"I asked Gaius to bring to talk to me the new Dragonlord, but I have not met the Once and Future King on an occasion where we were not trying to kill each other." Arthur looked slightly abashed at this, but strode forward to greet the dragon. Before he could say anything, however, Kilgharrah spoke.

"Ah, the Once and Future King. It is an honour to make your acquaintance."

"And I yours." he replied. That reminded me.

"So he is still the Once and Future King?" I asked "That hasn't changed?"

"No, but it one of the few things that has not." he told me. I paled again.

"Start at the beginning." I told him, before glancing at the other two. "Actually, start with the original prophecy."

"Very well." he told me, and addressed the aforementioned two.

"The original prophecy stated that one day, a great warlock would be born, the most powerful one that ever had or ever would exist." I felt myself go red at his words, as Gwaine glanced across at me. "This warlock would help and protect the Once and Future King. That is you, Arthur." he told him.

"Together" he continued "they would create the kingdom of Albion, full of peace and harmony, where magic users could live free from persecution. Albion would contain the whole of the seven kingdoms, and would be ruled over by the Once and Future King, with Emrys at his side."

"Before you tell us what the new prophecy is, can you tell me when it changed, or when you noticed it had changed, at least?" I asked Kilgharrah.

"It was not me that noticed, but Aithuasia." he told me, and I looked curiously at the new dragon. "and as for when, I have no idea. I just know that they've changed."

"That reminds me." I told him "How can you tell things like that? When prophecies change, or whatever? Is it just instinctive, or…"

"All creatures of magic can do it, Merlin." he told me "It is part of the magic that creates us and keeps us alive" I was surprised.

"Does that mean…can I do it?" I asked him.

"Indeed."

I immediately closed my eyes to see if I could find it. After about five minutes, when I could hear Arthur and Gwaine shifting anxiously, my eyes flew open again.

Oh God.

Instantly, my eyes found Arthur's, then Gwaine's, and then Kilgharrah's. he nodded at the horrified look on my face, confirming my worst fears.

"No…" I breathed. Then I screamed.

"NO!"

* * *

**AN - Apologies for the cliffhanger. But I couldn't resist it, and the chapter was getting quite long. to make it up to you, i'll try to post early, but no promises, as i'm moving on monday, and dont know how long it'll take to get the internet sorted out.**

**Can I just point out, I have no idea of the real 'original' prophecy, but I hope my version sounded okay. if anyone does know it, can you please tell me what it is, either in a review or a PM. thanks! Also, did kilgharrah sound okay?**

**Oh, and one last thing. my lines challenge is still open, but i dont know for how long. feel free to enter! details last chapter. see you soon! please review!**

**-APP**


	3. A True Magic User

**AN - okay, so i know it's saturday, not thursday, but are you honestly complaing after that awful cliffy i gave you? thought not :P besides, there were some desperate reviews for me to put this up early, so i have. thank you to Nebriniel Peredhil, katieandted97, and muggletribute for posting. you're so awesome! (as it's only been two days)**

**On a side note, who's excited for merlin tonight! yipee!**

**see you at the bottom, folks!**

**disclaimer - see ch1.**

It took us five minutes to calm Merlin down. In the end it was me that managed it.

"_MERLIN!_" I screamed at him mentally. That got his attention. He looked so heart broken, that I wasn't sure I wanted to know the new prophecy, but knew that we needed to, me and Arthur. It included us, after all.

After a minute, he started talking, but with a pained expression on his face.

"It…it's not all bad." he admitted. "But one bit is…..horrible. But you need to know. Both of you.

It starts - it starts pretty much the same way as the old one did. About a great warlock etc. And then….then it said;

The warlock shall have a brother, then two, and they shall be the Brothers of Destiny. They will be his apprentice, the Unexpected Dragonlord, and his leader, the Once and Future King. Together, they will bring peace throughout all Albion. But one will have to pay a terrible price for this. One of the brothers shall sacrifice their soul to save the other two. Once taken, this soul cannot be returned by anyone under any circumstances. But beware, the other two, for once this happens, Albion will never be the same again.'"

At the end his voice shook and died. He looked so heartbroken and devastated, and I could understand why.

One of us was going to have to sacrifice ourselves to save the other two.

We all just stood there, for what must have been about fine minutes, before Arthur decided to break the silence.

"Okay." he said, and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. This is a lot to take in all at once, so I think we need to break it down. I'm sorry to have to make you repeat it, Merlin, but we need to understand it, so that we can do all we can to prevent it."

"No, Arthur, you don't understand." Merlin told him. "You cannot change what has been seen will come to pass. I've tried, and it just doesn't work. It's part of why I hate knowing the future in any form, because once known, it cannot be changed. This prophecy is the same." He still had that distressed look on his face.

"But," he said "I do think you're right in saying that we need to break it down."

We waited for him to say more, but he just stood there. After a minute, I prompted him "Merlin?"

"Right." he said. "Okay. So the first bit was about the great warlock being born, as I said, so I don't think we need to analyse that." We both nodded in agreement. The two dragons were watching us, interested.

"The next bit said 'The warlock will have a brother, then two, and they shall be the brothers of destiny.' What do you think that means? I'm an only child."

I thought about this for a minute, before asking "Didn't the next line say something about who the brothers are?" Merlin dutifully recited the next line, with no expression or feeling.

"They will be his apprentice, the Unexpected Dragonlord, and his leader, the Once and Future King."

"Well." I said. "Since the leader, the Once and Future King, is Arthur, then does that mean that the apprentice, the Unexpected Dragonlord, is me?"

"I think so." said Arthur thoughtfully. Since you have magic, I suppose Merlin will train you to use it?" he posed it like a question.

"Oh, yes." Merlin agreed "If for no other reason than if you, Gwaine, were not trained, your magic could become dangerous, both to you, and those around you. But that's not the only reason I'll do it. It should be fun, too, to have another magic user around."

I grinned at his enthusiasm, no matter how temporary in the current climate, and saw a jealous look briefly flash across Arthur's face, before it was wiped off and replaced with a tight smile. Merlin had obviously seen it too.

"Cheer up, Arthur!" he said "We're all brothers here!" Then his smiled dropped as he remembered the prophecy, and I sighed. I had missed Merlin's smile, as he didn't use it much any more.

"Back to the prophecy," he said, and shot Arthur a sort of half-apologetic look "Me and Arthur have seen each other as brothers for a while, Gwaine. It just took us a while to admit it, a bit like with our friendship." he told me. I looked across at Arthur, expecting him to be cross with Merlin, but instead he was smiling, possibly at the memories Merlin had brought up.

"I suppose…I suppose you've been my brother for a while too, Gwaine. I just never saw it." Merlin said shyly. I was stunned. Merlin was never this open. Behind him, the dragon seemed shocked too.

Merlin held out his hand, and I grasped his forearm in mine. "Brother." I whispered, and he grinned.

"So, it appears that bit of the prophecy is almost self-fulfilling." he said, and Arthur and I nodded in agreement. He took a deep breath and continued;

"The next line's not so bad 'Together, they will bring peace throughout all Albion.', but after that it becomes…horrible." he shuddered and closed his eyes, before opening them again and voicing what we all knew came next.

"'But one will have to pay a terrible price for this. One of the brothers shall sacrifice their soul to save the other two. Once taken, this soul cannot be returned by anyone under any circumstances.'"

We stood there not saying anything for a bit, before Merlin sighed. "Okay. We've got to say this, so let's just say it. One of us is going to sacrifice our souls to save the other two. Now, we've all nearly given up our lives to save each other before, but I wouldn't blame _anyone_ for not wanting to give up their soul." he shuddered again. Arthur looked as confused as I felt.

"Surely…surely it's the same thing?" Arthur asked, and Merlin shook his head violently. "No." he said "Losing your soul is a lot worse than losing your life. Without your soul…your body can survive without your soul. And I survive, not live, for a very good reason. Without your soul, your heart will keep beating, and your brain will still work, but it would be as if…as if your personality had been stolen. All your memories, all your emotions, all your _life, _would just be…gone. No-one lasts long like that, and most die within 24 hours." I was horrified. That was going to happen to one of _us_?!"

"Oh." I said quietly, and that about summed it up. No-one said anything else for a while, just lost in their thoughts. No-one was up for talking about the last line anyway, and it was pretty self-explanatory, I thought. At last, Merlin spoke again, this time to Kilgharrah as much as us.

"I've been thinking." he said, and Arthur snorted quietly. Merlin ignored him. "We can't dwell on this. It would ruin our lives. We also can't tell anyone. Think of the damage this would cause to Camelot if anyone found this out. That either their king, their court sorcerer, or one of the king's favoured knights, was going to become a soul-less husk. What would that do to the people?" Arthur winced at his words.

"So what do we tell people?" he asked. "What do we tell people when they ask where we were, and what the dragon told us?" Then I had a brainwave.

"We tell them we don't remember. We pretend we don't know what they're talking about. So people might become a bit mistrustful of the dragons for a while, but if we stick up for them, their minds might changed. Besides, we could just say some land collapsed underneath us as we were walking back to Camelot, and none of us remember what we talked about."

There was a stunned silence as the other two looked at me. Then Merlin said thoughtfully "Amnesia. You know, that might just work." I smiled proudly.

"So we're agreed." said Arthur. "We tell no-one, and pretend to have forgotten if anyone asks about it." Merlin and I nodded in agreement. Then Merlin said,

"Kilgharrah? I've been wondering about this for a while, and I've just remembered. What kind of a magic user is Gwaine?"

I openly started listening at this, as I was curious to know too.

"I have thought about this too, young warlock." the Great Dragon said "And have finally come to the conclusion that he is somewhere between sorcerer and warlock. He was not born with his powers, but he did not choose to learn magic either. Therefore, he is somewhere in the middle."

Arthur snorted. "So he's just Gwaine." Merlin snorted too "I don't think Gwaine's ever been 'just' anything." I frowned at this as the other two laughed. _'just like real brothers, we three are' _I thought to myself, and grinned.

* * *

Soon, we said farewell to the dragon, and were heading back to Camelot. Kilgharrah had offered to fly us, but Merlin said that we should make the lie we would tell as close to the truth as possible, and walk. Along the way, the air was filled with our banter as we joked and teased one another. Merlin also gave a small display of magic, which made us ooohh and ahh, not that Arthur would ever admit that he'd done such a thing.

Then, after a while, Merlin suddenly became quiet. Arthur and I ignored it, believing he was probably thinking about the prophecy, or worrying about the lie we would tell. In the end, it turned out he was, just not in the way we were thinking.

When we reached the top of a cliff, still about an hour away from Camelot, and had been travelling for about six hours already, with various stops here and there, Merlin paused.

"I've been thinking." he said, and Arthur and I looked at him.

"You know what I was saying about making the truth as close to out story as possible?" he asked us, and we nodded. He looked apprehensive, as if he knew we weren't going to like what he said next, and I got a sneaking suspicion of what it was.

"I think we need to imitate the falling part." he said very quickly, as though hoping that would help prevent some of Arthur's anticipated reaction. Surprisingly, though he nodded.

"I'd been thinking something similar." he admitted.

We all moved closer to the edge of the cliff, and peered over the edge nervously. "I've protected our heads," Merlin told us "and nothing worse than a minor bone breakage can happen to any of us. That way, we cant actually forget what's happened, and we wont be injured enough not to get back to Camelot." We both nodded in agreement to what he'd done.

"So." I said after it had been a minute and we were all still standing there "Do we jump or…?" I was cut off as Merlin thrust his hand at the ground beneath our feet, and it gave way, crumbling beneath us. We all screamed as we descended to the base of the cliff.

I groaned as I hit the ground with a loud THUMP. Either side of me, I heard two more thumps that must have been Merlin and Arthur. After a minute, I sat up to see if they were okay, noticing as I did so that I was covered in scratches and bruises, and has a large gash down one arm.

On the other side of the clearing, Arthur was looking equally dishevelled, his clothes ripped, and a large bleeding cut down one leg.

Merlin, however, was lying on his side groaning with his arm at a funny angle. After a minute, he too sat up, but accompanied by several winces.

As he got a look at his arm he gave a pronounced "Ah." I stood up and hurried over to his side. "Merlin, are you hurt, besides the obvious?" I asked. Arthur, not having seen Merlin was injured, rushed over to him as well at my words. "I thought you said nothing could be broken?" he said accusingly, as if he was the one who had been hurt.

"I said _minor_ breakages could still happen." he replied through gritted teeth "It had to seem realistic. And since it's me, I can't heal it. Normally I'd have to wait for Gaius, but…" he trailed off and looked at me, before saying "Gwaine! How would you like your first lesson in magic, right here, right now?!"

If I could help, there was no way I wasn't going to. "Sure." Arthur, too looked interested.

"Right." said Merlin. "First you need to roll up my sleeve to get a look at the break." I gently did so, apologising to Merlin when he flinched. When I'd done that, he instructed Arthur "You need to find something for me to bite down on. Gwaine's going to have to straighten the break." I winced at how much pain I was going to cause him, as Arthur ripped the bottom of his shirt off, and folded it up for Merlin to bite down on. He handed it to him.

"Now," he instructed me "I'm going to tell you this now, as I won't be able to tell you anything comprehensible once the fabric's in my mouth. What you need to do, once I'm ready, is straighten the break. Don't do it slowly, please, just get it over with." I nodded to show I had understood.

Merlin carefully put the fabric in his mouth, and signalled he was ready. Quickly but gently, I firmly straightened Merlin's arm, wincing as he yelled in pain even through the fabric in his mouth.

"I'm sorry." I said "It's over. I've done it. I'm sorry." I kept apologising until Merlin spat out the cloth and firmly said

"Stop it. It had to be done and I told you to do it. So stop apologising."

"Now" he said, once he had his breath back "This is the magic part. I can't use my magic to heal myself, it just doesn't work like that. Therefore, I'm going to help you, Gwaine, do it for me." I nodded to show I had understood, while Arthur watched, interested.

"You need to place your hands on my arm, one on either side of the break." he instructed me, nodding as I did so. "Now, you need to reach inside of you and find your magic. It feels different for everyone, so I can't tell you what to look for, but it won't be too hard to find."

I searched myself, until I found what can only be described as a balloon of energy, pulsating as though someone was inflating and deflating it. I nodded to show I had found it."

"Now, pull some of it towards you, not much, just a little." I did as he asked, and found it came away easily.

"Now," Merlin was whispering "repeat after me '_sanare hoc os ante me'" _

"_sanare hoc os ante me" _I whispered, and felt the odd sensation of my magic running through me. I laughed. It was oddly…freeing. Merlin grinned at me, as if he knew what I was feeling. Which, I realised, he probably did.

"And that, Gwaine," he told me "is your first use of intentional magic, and your first magic lesson finished." He flexed his arm to show it was all fixed, and I grinned. I was a true magic user now.

* * *

**AN - 'sanare hoc os ante me' translates as 'heal this bone before me' (at least according to google translate :D) so? was it any good? was the evil cliffy worth it? dont forget, my lines compotition is only open until chapter five! details in ch1! so enter now! after ch6, i've decided i'll do one chapter for every line, so the more lines submitted, the more chapters there'll be! happy reading!**

**-APP**


	4. One Big Disfunctional Family

**AN - Heyy! I'm back. and i brought another chapter with me! hooray! now, normally I would say this at the bottom, but meh. if you havent entered my line competition yet and you still want to, you only have until i post chapter six. if you have no idea what I'm on about, check the bottom f chapter one. BIG thank you to SpangleyPony, muggletribute, and SpandHana for reviewing, and particularly to muggletribute for inspiring me with their message, and meaning i got this out on time today instead of tomorrow. thank you!**

**see you at the bottom! please don't hate me too much!**

**disclaimer - see ch1**

* * *

"And you can't remember any of it?" Gaius asked me, shining a light into my eyes. I sighed.

"I already told you this three times, Gaius - no." I said. We had returned about an hour ago. We had all reaffirmed our story with each other, before Arthur had gone to see Gwen, to check everything was okay, Gwaine set off for training with the other knights, and Arthur ordered me to go and see Gaius. He was worried about my arm, apparently, but I think he just didn't want to face Gaius' wrath if the truth was found out. I sighed again

"Not one of you remembers anything the dragon said to you at all?" he asked me suspiciously.

"No." I said firmly. I hated lying to him, but we had decided this was necessary, and I certainly wasn't going to be the one to go against the decision. "We think we must have hit our heads on an outcrop of rock when we fell down the cliff of something."

Then Gaius asked something new "Who woke up first?"

"Gwaine." I told him "Then Arthur, then me." I hesitated. I hadn't told him about my arm yet, but he needed to know.

"Also…I broke my arm." He looked up sharply, his gaze flying to my arms, and then not seeing anything wrong with them, back to my face. I explained further.

"When we landed, I must have broken it. Then, since I couldn't heal it myself, I helped Gwaine do it." I held out my recently fixed arm towards him.

"Hmmm" he said, feeling long it, before jabbing it sharply with his finger.

"Ow!" I said, pulling it away from him.

"Hmmm" he said again "Still tender. It does appear to be healed, not that I'm doubting Gwaine's skills…well, actually, I am, since you haven't got around to teaching him magic yet, but like I say, it is in one piece, just tender still. Now Merlin." he said, fixing me with a stern glare "You are going to have to keep it in a sling for about a week, otherwise you could cause it more damage, or even break it again."

I nodded hurriedly, not wanting to either incur the wrath of Gaius or experience the pain again - it had hurt more than expected.

I sat there as Gaius carefully found a strip if fabric around my arm and up across my neck, wincing as my arm twinged. When he was finished, I stood up. "I need to go and see Arthur." I told him "I promised I would when I finished up here." He gave me a critical look up and down, before nodding. I quickly left before he could change his mind and keep me any longer.

As I stepped outside, I came across Gwaine lent against the wall. When he saw me, he stood up. He frowned when he saw my sling. "Still tender." I told him. "Gaius is worried I'll damage it more." he nodded, and said "Come on, let's go and find Arthur." We walked off, and encountered the very person we were looking for no two corridors away. He too started when he saw my sling.

Before he could open his mouth to ask, I was already explaining. "It's still sore. I have to wear this for a week or I might break it again." they both looked startled at this, before Arthur shook it off and started talking "I was coming to see you, Merlin." he told me "How was it with Gaius?" he looked anxious, and I smirked before saying "All fine. I don't _think_ he suspected anything, but then again, you never know with Gaius." I shrugged. Arthur seemed to accept this, and nodded.

"There's one other thing, Merlin." said Arthur, and I looked at him, expecting some horrible task. He smiled. "As a member of the court, Merlin, we need your family history. Mainly so we can check to see that there are no horrible scandals in your family that we may have to cover up, but also so that if anything were to happen to you, we could find your next of kin."

My head reeled at that. My next of kin? Surely that would be a child, if I had one, but that was never likely to happen, since the only girl I would ever love was Freya, and she was trapped in a lake. I sighed, anticipating many hours of research.

I was about to head off and search when a young page ran up to us panting. "Sire, Sir Gwaine, Lord Merlin." he greeted us, and I was shocked. Since when was I _Lord_ Merlin? I saw Arthur grinning at my shocked reaction, and decided that I would get him back somehow. Possibly with the help of Gwaine.

The page was gabbling hastily at Arthur, but I caught the words "dying", "court sorcerer" and "magic". Immediately I was paying more attention. Arthur had a look on his face which clearly told me he wasn't understanding a word the boy was saying. I reached out and put my unbound arm on the page's shoulder. He immediately stopped and looked at me.

"Take a deep breath and start at the beginning." I told him. He nodded and did so. "There's a woman, down in the village - she's dying. She's just given birth and there were complications. Gaius can't do anything for her. He said she would need the help of the court sorcerer, to heal her with magic. You have to come and help, Lord Merlin, please!" he begged.

His speech had sped up at the end, but I had understood him anyway. I wasn't sure if the other two had, but the look on his face told me Gwaine might of.

He took one look at my anxious face and said "Go, Merlin. I'll do your research. Go and save her." he ordered me. I was torn between thanking Gwaine and getting to the woman quicker, or taking him with me because it would be another good lesson for him. In the end, I decided on the former. "Thanks, Gwaine." I told him. I took a look at Arthur's confused face and added "Explain to the prat, would you?" before turning to the boy. "Take me to her."

Immediately the boy set off towards the town, with me keeping pace just behind him.

When we reached the house, the was a small crowd of people round the house. I quickly moved through them, and entered the building.

Inside, there was a woman laying on a bed, bleeding and deathly skill. Beside her stood a woman, holding what I decided must be her newborn child, and Gaius, his face twisted with worry. When he saw me, he stood up. "Merlin." he said.

"Gaius, what's wrong with her?" I immediately asked. He started to explain.

"Internal bleeding with muscle tearing and a possible womb collapse. Only you can save her." Those words filled me with a twisted sort of power, before I shook it off and went to lay my hands on her arm, so I could get a better sense of what was wrong, when I encountered a problem. Without thinking about it, I tore off my sling, ignoring Gaius, and laid my hands on her gently.

Immediately I could feel what was wrong with her. I summoned my magic, and began pouring it into her, first fixing the muscle tearing, and then stopping the internal bleeding. I stood up and wobbled, sweat pouring off my face. That had taken a lot out of me, especially as I was injured.

Ah. The sling. I turned to face Gaius, and found him looking at me half disapprovingly and half proud. I bent to pick up the sling from where it had landed on the ground, and gasped in pain as my arm moved. Gaius looked worried as I handed him the sling, and probed my arm lightly with his hand. He frowned when I gasped again.

"I warned you." he told me "I think you've broken it again. And this time, you might have to let it heal properly - no magic." I nodded in acceptance. I understood but that didn't mean I liked it. "I don't regret it." I told him "If I hadn't, she would have died."

We both turned to face her at my words, and saw a man I assumed to be her husband hugging the woman on the bed, who was now conscious. The man looked up and saw us watching them. He looked at me and said

"You saved her. You saved my Edith. I can never thank you enough, Lord Merlin." I blushed at the praise. Then a voice came from the doorway "That's Merlin." I looked round to see Arthur standing there. I wasn't sure how long he'd been there for, but it didn't seem like long, as he was looking round with interest.

I went to walk towards him, when the man approached me with his child. "Name her for us, Lord Merlin." he requested, and I was stunned.

I looked across at Arthur, who looked impassively back, before looking back at the man, hesitating slightly, and nodding. I thought for a minute, before finding the perfect name. "Sperare." I whispered, looking at the child, before looking at the man again. "It means hope in the ancient language." I told him. His eyes filled with tears "It's perfect." he whispered "Thank you."

I nodded, before following Arthur and Gaius out of the door, leaving the man with his family. Once out there, Arthur clapped me on the arm to congratulate me on saving the woman. Unfortunately, it was the broken one, and my knees buckled as my eyes watered in pain. Arthur caught me, looking worried, before I could hit the floor.

"Merlin, what's wrong?" he asked me. I shook my head, and Gaius explained "I think he's broken it again, Sire." Arthur looked horrified at hurting me, before Gaius carried on "He took of his sling to heal the woman, but the lack of support and too much movement must have broken it again. And this time, Sire, he won't be able to use magic to fix it. It could be dangerous."

By this time I could stand up again, and followed Gaius back to our rooms, where he carefully strapped up my arm and bound it in another sling. "You will probably have to wear this for six weeks, Merlin." he told me, and I nodded grimly, before Gaius let me go.

I followed Arthur out of the room and towards the library. Once there, Geoffrey directed us to where Gwaine was sitting towards the back of the room. When he saw us, he started, especially when he took in my appearance. "Re-broke my arm and have to wear this for six weeks." I explained, and he winced.

"Sit down." he said. "You wouldn't believe some of what I've found." As we settled down into some seats, Gwaine started talking.

"Okay, Merlin. How much about your family did you already know?" he asked

"Well - my mother, obviously, is Hunith, and my father was Balinor, a Dragonlord. Other than that, I know of no-one except for my great-uncle, Gaius." Arthur looked surprised at this. "I didn't know he was your great-uncle." he told me.

"We don't advertise it." I explained "Our relationship is actually much closer than that anyway. He's like my father." I said softly. Arthur looked sympathetic, but Gwaine just grinned and said "I guess that just makes us one big dysfunctional family, then." I smiled back.

Then Gwaine looked more serious, and continued.

"So, you don't know your father's family name, then?" he asked. I shook my head. "It was Ambrosius." he said, and Arthur gasped.

"Ambrosius?" he gasped are you sure. Gwaine nodded and I was confused. "What does that mean?" I asked.

Gwaine looked at me, before turning back to the book in front of him. "That's what I'd like to know." he said eventually. I was confused, and Gwaine looked me straight in the eye.

"How is it, Merlin Ambrosius, that your family name happens to be exactly the same as mine?"

Arthur gasped again.

* * *

**AN - sorry! sorry sorry sorry! I promise to try to not do this too often. I am afraid that you WILL have to wait until thursday for the next chapter this week, as I will be very busy. sorry!**

**also, I hope the childbirth and naming scene isn't too close to Eragon. it wasnt my intention, and it wasnt until someone pointed it out that i noticed.**

**please review, and don't hate me too much for the cliffy! remember to enter lines!**

**-APP**


	5. Princess Prat

**AN - Hello! I'm so sorry this is late! I had unexpected relatives turn up last night, and I got put in charge of entertainment as my mum and step dad were going to the theatre, so didn't have time to write or post this. So massive apologies for that. On a positive note, it's my birthday tomorrow, and I will be 16, and since I live in the UK, I get Merlin on my birthday! how awesome is that! Thanks to my reviewers; SpanglyPony, muggletribute, and katieandted97. this made me happy! :D**

**Enjoy**

**Disclaimer**** - see ch1**

_Arthur_

I gasped. But that meant...

Merlin looked shocked. "What do you mean, the same family name!? Does that make us...what does that make us?"

Gwaine shrugged. He looked pensive for a moment, than sighed and said "I think it's time I told you about my family." I sat up straighter. I _really_ wanted answers.

"Okay." he started. "But you need to know this. Once I found out that me and Merlin were related, I sort of...kept going." He looked a bit guilty. "I found the family trees of all of us. Me, Merlin, you Arthur, so indirectly Morgana, Gwen and Elyan, Percival, Leon, and Lancelot. It's quite scary." He said ominously.

Merlin looked intrigued now, but I was impatient to know about the Ambrosias line. I tapped my foot irritably. Gwaine glared at me irritably before carrying on. Merlin just looked curious about what Gwaine had found.

"Okay, so my father was a noble. No, Arthur, I'm not telling you his name." He told me, and I huffed. "I found out." He said, glancing between us. "I found out that my great-great-grandfather, Athian Ambrosias, was one of Bathium Ambrosias' sons. I also found out that you, Merlin, are my cousin of some sort, as your great-great-grandfather, Brolian Ambrosias, was _also_ one of Bathium's son's." Merlin gaped like a fish.

"I also found out" he said turning to me, "That you are one of Brolian's descendants too, but only through marriage." I had already known that, but Merlin gasped. He turned to Gwaine, mouth open to ask a question, but Gwaine anticipated it. "He's your second cousin." He said, and Merlin turned to look at me, shocked. I got the feeling that he had never had so much family in his life, and that saddened me. Gwaine was still talking.

"Unfortunately, that also means that we're all related to Morgana." He said, pulling a face. Merlin laughed slightly, still shocked.

"Now," he said, and I got the feeling that Merlin and I were about to be on the receiving end of a lot of talking, "Bathium was one of the three sons of Gordium Ambrosias. One of the other two, Egderian, died just after being born, but the other was called Ordium. And he had lots of descendants."

Merlin's mouth fell open.

"No...!" he said in a hushed voice, and I was confused. No what? Gwaine ignored him and kept talking. "Ordium had two sons. One of whom Gwen, Elyan, and Percival are descended, and the other of whom Leon is and Lancelot was descended."

I sat back, stunned. We really all _were_ a dysfunctional family.

Merlin looked firm. "I don't care!" he said fiercely, sitting up straight, and then wincing as his arm twinged "You two are still my brothers, despite any other familial reference, and I am _not_ related to Morgana." He glared at the both of us as if daring us to disagree with him. But we didn't. Or at least, I didn't. Gwaine seemed to feel the same way.

"Of course, Merlin." He said, ever so slightly patronizing, and Merlin slumped down in his seat. "Sorry." he said "Today's been hard. What with the

prophecy and breaking my arm _twice_, and now all this family stuff as well, I just…I don't know. But I'm sorry." he apologized.

"Merlin, it's fine." I told him. "We completely understand." Gwaine nodded to show his agreement, and Merlin nodded as well. "I'm going to go to bed and sleep." He told us, and Gwaine laughed. "I'll go with you." he said. They both said goodnight, and left towards Gaius' rooms. I sighed. Merlin needed his own quarters now, and I had the perfect place. I quickly left to see if they were free, as they should be, and whether or not they needed cleaning. Merlin was going to love it.

_Gwaine_

I got the feeling that Merlin needed to talk to me, so when Merlin said he was going back to Gaius' rooms, I quickly offered to go with him. Once we were away, Merlin pulled me down a side corridor, and then into a store-room. I felt slightly uncomfortable. "Er…Merlin" I said awkwardly "You do realize I'm into girls?"

He looked confused for a minute, before laughing and using his magic to push me.

"Moron." he said "I'll have you know so am I. No, I need your help." I was curious until he explained. "I need to prank Arthur." I grinned. Excellent.

"What did he do?" I asked in what I hoped was a sympathetic tone. He scowled. "He _conveniently_ 'forgot' to mention to me that I was now a Lord, and made me look like a real idiot. I mean, that bit's not unusual, but I still think it needs to be done. Plus it will be a lot of fun." I grinned again. I could tell I'd had quite an influence on him.

"What did you have in mind?"

_Arthur_

The next day we were all sat in a very boring council meeting, talking about which villages had paid their taxes, and which couldn't afford to, and which ones had accepted magic, and the like. Suddenly, in the middle of his sentence, Leon sort-of…trailed off from what he was saying. I looked up to see why he had stopped, and found him staring at me. "What?" I asked. He didn't say anything. "What?!"

By now the rest of the council was looking at me as well, some of them barely disguising their laughter. "What are you all _looking_ at!?" I demanded. Merlin, sat to my right, handed me a mirror he had just conjured.

Ah. That's what they were looking at.

It seemed that _someone_ had decided that I needed a new look. My hair was green, and stuck up as if I had been struck by lightning, my skin was _purple_, and my crown had apparently evolved into a large cardboard one, with the words 'Princess Prat' written in large pink letters.

"Very funny." I said "You two are hilarious." I could tell that Merlin and Gwaine had been behind this. Not that they were about to admit it.

"Who?" asked Merlin, pretending to look around. I could tell he was amused, though. "Merlin," I sighed "You and Gwaine are the only ones who call me prat and princess respectively, so when the words 'Princess Prat' are written on my crown, it's a bit of a give-away. Plus the two of you are the only ones with the magic to do it that would dare"

"I told him." Merlin mumbled. I sighed again. Across the table, Gwaine was laughing almost openly now.

"Look, could you just remove it, and then we'll forget about it?" I told him. Merlin looked shifty.

"Er-no." he said. I looked furious that he would dare to defy me, when he explained. "My half of the spell is permanent, at least for a day, and I don't know how much power Gwaine put into his half, so it could last anywhere from an hour to a week." He looked apologetic, but I was furious.

There was a loud BANG as Gwaine fell off of his chair from laughing so much. This made the rest of us laugh, even me, so soon the whole room was full of laughter. When we calmed down, that had cheered me up enough that I wasn't even angry at the two of them anymore.

"Okay" I said, turning to Merlin "Can you even reduce it a little?" he looked thoughtful. "I might be able to." he said "Hold still."

I sat stock still, ands then felt a strange sensation, like a warm wave running through me. Then it stopped, and I looked at the mirror in my hand again and sighed.

My skin was back to normal, and although my hair was still green, it no longer stuck up. There was no change to my crown, either.

"Sorry." said Merlin, not sounding like he was, really. "I couldn't fix the rest." I sighed again.

"That's okay. You tried, and fixed some of it. Even if it _was_ you and Gwaine that made it like that in the first place." Merlin shrugged, and neither of them bothered to hide their grins.

"Council Dismissed!" I announced, and Merlin and Gwaine trailed me a door at the back of the room.

Once we were out there, Merlin apologized again. "I am sorry, Arthur." He said "But you can't deny that it was funny. And that's what real siblings would do, don't you think?" I reluctantly broke into a grin, and the other two followed suit.

"Anyway." I said "I've got something to show you, Merlin." I told him, and he looked curious. "You can come too, Gwaine, if you want." I offered, and the three of us headed off down the corridor.

"Now." I said "As my Court Sorcerer, Merlin, you technically need your own chambers." We stopped outside a door in the middle of a blank wall in a rarely used part of the castle. Merlin looked shocked. I nodded to him, and he opened the door.

Inside was a winding spiral staircase. As we followed him up, I could almost _hear _Merlin's enthusiasm at what would be up there. I heard him gasp as he reached the top.

Inside was an open-plan living area, complete with an area to prepare food. In one corner was what appeared to be a place to make potions and cured, like was found in Gaius' rooms, and Merlin gasped when he saw it. the was another, smaller flight of stairs leading off from the area, which led to a small bedroom and bathroom. Merlin turned to face me, his face alight with joy. Gwaine was laughing at the look on his face.

"Arthur...!" Merlin was lost for words, but I didn't need to hear them to know how much he appreciated what I had just done for him.

"You're very welcome Merlin." I told him, and for a moment I thought he would hug me again, but clearly refrained from doing so because of his arm. He still seemed unable to talk as he stared around at his new home, so I filled the silence.

"I refrained from giving you a servant, as all the other nobles have, because I didn't think you would want one, having worked as one yourself."

"No." he agreed weakly, looking round once more, before facing me squarely. "Thank you, Arthur."

"You're very welcome. Come on, Gwaine, let's leave Merlin to look around his new home."

As we reached the bottom of the staircase, Gwaine faced me. "That was a very decent thing you just did for Merlin. I don't think you quite understood how much that meant to him"

"I did." I told him, and he could see that I did.

"Come on." I told him, as I shut the door to my brothers new home.

**AN - see! see! no cliff hanger this week! see! um...review please? and while you're at it, you have until THURSDAY to enter my lines entry thimg. see ch1 for details. remember, the more lines i have, the more chapters i have inspiration for! happy reading!**

**-APP**


	6. Calling your secret

**AN - er, hi? i'm sorry! it's late again, i know! im sorry. but it is a lot longer than usual, in my defense. about 700 words, to precise. ive read entire stories shorter than that. any way, this week, i want you all to give a big thankyou to MUGGLETRIBUTE, without who, there's a good chance that ther wouldn't be a story, as they gave me the inspiration for what to put in this weeks chapter. not that it's happened yet, but it gave me the run up to it. this chapter was originally planned to include the next chapter as well, but it was getting so long that i cut it here. i appologize, again, for the cliffhanger in advance. thank you to muggletribute, SpangleyPony, Cinnimania (Guest), Merlinisawesome, and potterhead from potterland for all reviewing. most of you also gave me lines, so thank you for that too. more about that at the bottom, though. **

**happy reading!**

**Oh, and also, if anyone can think of a better title for this chapter, please PM me. i cant think of one, but this was the best i could come up with. please?**

**disclaimer - see ch1**

_Three Weeks Later_

_Merlin_

"Careful" I told myself "Careful - Dammit!" I swore as the glass bowl fell out of my hand as I tried to hoist it onto a nearby shelf with only one arm, and smashed into what appeared to be about a hundred pieces. I glared at it for a minute, before it fixed itself. Or rather, my magic did. Then, a voice behind me startled me.

"Why didn't you just use magic to get it up there?"

Gwaine was standing at the top of the staircase at the entrance to my rooms, one eyebrow raised.

"Nice Gaius impression." I greeted him "And in answer to your question…" I frowned "I suppose I haven't really got used to being allowed to use it yet." I told him with a grin, before turning back to the bowl and lifting it up to its place on the shelf with magic.

"I suppose you're here for your next magic lesson?" I asked him.

"If that's okay?" he replied, phrasing it at a question.

"Not at all, not at all." I waved him in. He sat in his usual space, while I took mine opposite him, on two chairs I'd elongated to make room for more than one person on them at once. Arthur thought they were weird, but Gwaine thought they were fantastic. I was actually rather proud of them.

This would be his sixth magic lesson, if you count that impromptu one in the forest that day. My arm was still in the sling, but healing nicely. For some absurd reason, Gwaine had decided to write his name on the bandages round my arm in really big letters, and then Arthur had followed, then the rest of the knights, and Gwen, and even Gaius, so now my arm was covered in my friends and families' names, in every colour available. It was actually rather lovely, to know that they cared that much. Not that I hadn't known before, but to me, this was actual proper proof that they had accepted me and my magic. It was the nicest think anyone could ever have given to me. Not that I would tell that to Arthur. He would just call me a girl.

"Now." I said to Gwaine "You know where I'm going to start." I always started the same lesson every way, by recapping over the magic I'd already taught him, to make sure that he didn't forget it and could call on it easily should the need ever arrive.

Dutifully, Gwaine held out his hand and intoned "_Forbearnan_", creating a small flame that hovered over his palm for a few seconds, before closing his hand and extinguishing it. Then he followed up with a series of other simple spells, from creating a sphere of water, to a small handheld light. So far, we had focused on one spell a lesson, and the only one we hadn't practised was the one he'd used to fix my arm, as neither of us was particularly keen to deliberately break any bones, especially since I still bore the evidence from the last time that had happened.

"Okay." I said, once he had completed the recap "What would you like to learn today?" I always gave him the choice, to make it interesting for him, but only as long as what he chose was relevant. He hadn't disappointed yet.

"Can I learn to levitate things, like you did with that bowl?" he asked. I nodded "Sure."

I summoned a smaller bowl than the one I had been lifting earlier over to me, and placed it in front of him. "The incantation is _laevo_" I told him.

"_Laevo_." Gwaine whispered, and slowly, the bowl rose a couple of centimetres into the air, before falling back onto the table with a small thump. He sighed and tried again.

He kept this up for about fifteen minutes, with me offering suggestions to make it easier every so often. Then, I called it to a stop. As a user new to magic, we had discovered that Gwaine found magic a lot more tiring than me. He had, however, managed to get the bowl to levitate and hold for as long as he wanted.

"That's enough for today." I told him, and he sighed, before standing up. He went to leave, before I called to him. "Are you busy for the rest of today or tomorrow?" I asked him. He shook his head. "No."

"Do you want to come with me to visit the druids?" I asked him. He nodded eagerly, like a small child offered his favourite toy. I chuckled. "Come on then, let's go and find Arthur."

Five minutes later we walked into his chambers. "Arthur." I gained his attention, and he looked up at us "I need to go and see the druids." I told him, he looked incredulous.

"Again? Merlin, that's the fifth time in three weeks. Is their something you're not telling me?."

"No." I said, feeling slightly guilty, because, in fact, there was. Arthur sighed.

"Very well, tell me when you get back." I was shocked, but he ignored it "I take it Gwaine is going with you?" I nodded. "Very well." he said again. "Try to be back before tomorrow night would you Merlin?" he requested "To have my two most loyal magic users and brothers, one of whom is a knight, away for more than that could be potentially dangerous for the kingdom. I nodded again, and went to leave. He called to us. "Good luck my brothers." I smiled.

_Gwaine_

After we had been riding for about half an hour, I decided to ask him. I was curious, anyway.

"What is it you're not telling Arthur?" he almost flew round in his seat, and scrutinised me closely. I held up my hands in a surrender gesture. "Hey, I'm just curious. He relaxed and turned back round in his seat.

"That's what I'm trying to finalize today" he said cryptically, and then remained stoically silent. I didn't ask again.

After another hour or so, we stopped for the night. Merlin collected firewood, and encouraged me to start the fire with my magic.

"_Forbearnan._" There was a fire crackling away merrily in the centre of our camp.

We sat around it and talked for a while, about magic, about Arthur, about Camelot, before suddenly, Merlin stood up. "Come on." he said to me, and walked of through the trees. I was mystified, but I couldn't just let him walk off alone through the trees, all-powerful warlock or not. I grabbed my sword and followed.

After about ten minutes, he stopped at the edge to a large clearing. A drew up next to him and looked at him, still confused. "I want you to practise summoning the dragons." he explained. I was elated.

"Really? Excellent!" He nodded. I rubbed my hands together, excited. Merlin laughed at my enthusiasm.

"Okay." he instructed. "before you ever try to summon the dragons, you need to make sure that they have an area large enough to land in, such as this one." I nodded.

"Now, when I learnt to summon and instruct the Great Dragon, he was attacking Camelot and I had just seen my father die. So I don't know if I can teach you the same way I learnt, but I'll try." He'd confused me again. Was he going to instruct the dragon to attack Camelot again? And if he wanted to kill my father…well, he was welcome. I'd probably even help him.

"You need to reach down inside of you again." he told me "Like with, your magic, but deeper. Almost to the heart of your magic, the very centre of your soul. Then…ask it to summon the dragon."

This seemed like a bit of an odd instruction to me, to ask my soul to summon the dragon, but I tried to do it anyway. I closed my eyes and followed his instructions.

I gasped. I knew _exactly_ what Merlin had meant. Almost involuntarily, my mouth opened and words poured out of it, travelling on my breath, flowing on and on in one long ribbon "_O drakon, e male so ftengometta tesd'hup'anankes!" _

I looked over to Merlin to check that I had done what he had expected, and I saw that he actually looked a bit freaked out. After a minute he seemed to recover. He must have seen me looking at him concerned, because he smiled.

"Sorry." he apologised "It's just that I've, quite obviously, I suppose, never seen anyone else do that before." He chuckled and shuffled self-consciously. "and I've never done it in front of anyone else before either. It looked a bit…weird, honestly." I laughed. "That makes us both, weird, then" I grinned. So did he. Then I had a wicked idea.

"Hey, how much do you think we could freak Arthur out if we dragged him out to a clearing like this, perhaps a bit nearer to Camelot, and both called the dragons at once, without telling him what we were doing first?"

Merlin laughed outright at this. And kept laughing. In fact, he didn't stop until the dragons arrived five minutes later. Every time he tried, he just burst out in fresh peels. Soon, I was laughing with him, so that when the dragons did get here, it was to find both of their Dragonlords rolling around on the floor in laughter. After we still didn't stop once they had landed, even Kilgharrah looked amused.

"As amusing as this is to watch" he said "I can't imagine what could be so funny to have the two of you laughing for five minutes straight."

At this Merlin _finally_ stopped laughing, and climbed to his feet. "I'm sorry Kilgharrah, Aithuasia." he said, and turned to address me. "I really needed that, Gwaine." he admitted, and I grinned again.

"It wasn't even that funny" I told the two curious creatures.

"Why did you call us?" Aithuasia asked.

"I wanted Gwaine to practise, to make sure that he could call on you in an emergency." Merlin explained. "I'm sorry if you were doing anything important."

"That's quite alright, young warlock. I would have encouraged you to teach sir Gwaine soon, anyway. And there is something I need to tell you anyway." Kilgharrah explained. Merlin looked as curious as I felt.

"Beware the call." was his cryptic message, before he and Aithuasia both launched themselves into the sky, leaving me and Merlin feeling very confused behind them.

After a minute, Merlin broke the silence.

"Well that was helpful."

I let out a bark of laughter "That it was."

After another moment, Merlin moved. "Come on." he said "There's something I want to show you." he paused for a minute, as if contemplating something, before continuing "And something I need to tell you on the way."

I was _really_ intrigued now. I once again followed him as he led a path through the trees. "I do hope you know how to get back to camp." I told him. He smiled. "Of course." I walked quicker to catch him up.

"What was it you wanted to tell me?" I asked. He sighed.

"It's about what I wasn't telling Arthur. After you asked, I realised that I probably should have told someone else. And since you're here and you asked…" he trailed off.

"You're going to tell me." I finished. He nodded. Then he sighed again.

"Okay, so you how when I explained everything, I told you that I was the leader of the druids?" he asked. I nodded to show I remembered. He continued "Well, over the last few weeks, whenever I have been to see the druids, I have arranging an official peace treaty between the druids and Camelot." I gasped "As an official part of both the Druids and Camelot's courts, I cannot sign for either party, but it does put me in an ideal position to be an ambassador between the two." He grinned "It also doesn't hurt that the king considers me a brother."

"But…but Merlin." I stuttered "How much work must that have been?! And why didn't you tell Arthur?" Merlin frowned slightly.

"I didn't tell him in case it didn't work out. I didn't want to get his hopes up, only for it to all fall through. And in answer to your first question, and awful lot of work!" he smiled, and then looked more serious.

"Gwaine, the dragons warning can't have been without meaning. I'm telling you this so that if something does happen, and the warning does refer to this journey, you can travel to the druids for me and finish the treaty. I don't care" he interrupted my protests "about you rescuing or saving me. The future of Camelot is more important than me anyway. If it does happen, there is a stone in the side pocket of the bag attached to the underside of my horse. Take it, and it will guide you to the druids. Tell them that you come on behalf of Emrys, to finish the peace treaty. And tell them that Emrys sent you, and that you are the Unexpected Dragonlord. They should listen to you then. Oh, and ask for Iseldar. He is my second in command, and the one who needs to sign on their end. Then, take him back to Camelot to Arthur, and get him to sign the treaty too. Then, and only then, try to find me. I don't care how long the treaty takes. Do that first."

I gaped at him, wordless. At some point, we had stopped walking. "Merlin…"

"Promise me, Gwaine." he told me "Promise me…on your magic."

"I…I promise on my magic." I said. There was a swirl of magic in the air, like gold dust. I trusted Merlin, and knew that if he asked me to do this, then he must have a very good reason.

His face softened. "Thank you, my brother." then he looked up. "It's just through here." he said. I followed him and gasped. We were on the edge of a giant lake. Instantly, I knew why we were there.

"Freya." I whispered. Beside me, Merlin nodded.

"Would you like to meet her?" he asked. I nodded. "If you're sure."

In reply he took of his shoes and waded out into the lake. When he was in up to his knees, he stopped and waited. Suddenly, there was a disturbance, and a girl rose from the water in front of him. I noticed that she was very pretty. Merlin said something to her, and they kissed softly. I almost felt my heart soften. I was glad Merlin had someone in his life, even if it was a …you know…dead girl who lived in a lake. I smiled.

He said something else to her, and turned to look at me. She smiled and I waved. Suddenly, she said something else to Merlin, and he stiffened. He said something to Freya, and suddenly he was next to me. "We need to leave. _Now_."

I recognised the tone in his voice, and was grateful I had brought my sword with me. Without hesitation, I turned and ran after him into the trees. I saw him glance quickly back at the lake, stopping to pick up his shops as he ran past. Then, we ran.

Of course, they found us. They always do. What was different this time was that this time Merlin could use his magic openly to fight back.

Bandits. Of course.

They jumped out of the trees and surrounded us. Quickly, I fought them off with my sword, stabbing them left and right, until there was only two left. I realised, though, that Merlin must have gotten rid of some of them. We faced off against them, one on one, until suddenly I felt myself fly through the air and slam into a tree. Great. One of them had magic.

Of course, I could have just used my magic to fight them, but I didn't know much yet, and was currently still better with the sword. But I was defenceless against this sorcerer, it appeared, as he appeared to have stuck my sword to the ground.

Suddenly, Merlin was beside me. "Go!" he yelled "GO!" I scrambled away, through the trees. I glanced back to see Merlin get hit over the head with…something, I wasn't sure what, there were too many trees in the way. But what I did see clearly was the man we'd been fighting grab Merlin and his fellow bandit and disappear in a cloud of fog.

I was alone.

I remembered my promise to Merlin. I knew he wasn't a seer, but it was almost as if…he had known what was going to happen. I cautiously climbed back through the trees to the clearing we had fought in. My sword had unstuck itself from the ground, I discovered. And there, on the floor, lay a scrap of fabric. Merlin's scarf. I picked it up and clenched my hand around it.

"I would follow up on my promise to Merlin, I had to. But then, then there would be hell to pay. I swore it to myself.

"I will find you, Merlin."

**AN - ooooooh, angst! sorry. anyway, it was much longer than usual. now, below are all the lines i have for the rest of the story. no more entered noe, by the way, please. overall, if i use one line for every chapter, there will be approximatly 21 more chapters. wow. that's a lot of chapters. i may have to double up on lines per chapter. thsnk you to all of you who entered. some of the lines are mine, and the others have the name of the person who gave them beside them. thanks all for reading, and again sorry this took so long!**

**-APP**

**Mine**

**- Merlin, what are you wearing?**

**- Arthur, what are you wearing?**

**- Gwaine, what on earth are you doing with that parrot!?**

**- Do I want to know what the two of you were doing?**

**No!**

**- Nice hat!**

**- The tower of doom!**

**- I still miss him/her**

**- I will destroy you!**

**Others**

**- Percival what are you doing to Gwaine? - angelblackdumbledore**

**- Merlin, put the water down, we need you to be drunk! - EragonandMurtagh**

**- You have got to be joking! - Merlinisawesome**

**- What, what, what are you doing? - Guest**

**- Katie is my best friend - katieandted97**

**- Can you two argue about this when we're on the ground? - SpangleyPony**

**- Wisdom the young king has. - SpangleyPony **

**- "Please," Merlin said to the maid, "Don't call me lord. Just Merlin." - Cinnimania (Guest)**

**- "And then there was that time I wrestled this one guy in the tavern," Gwaine said as he continued his 'gripping' story. - Cinnimania (Guest)**

**- "Exactly how many times have you saved my life?" Arthur asked Merlin. "At least once every episode!" **

**- "What?"**

**"Nothing." - Cinnimania (Guest)**

**- You did WHAT to Emrys? - potterhead from potterland**

**- Merlin, why is there a horse in my room? - potterhead from potterland**


	7. Emrys and the Druids

**Hellooooooooooooo! i know, i know. two weeks. i'm sorry. (you know, this is starting to get a bit old. i will do better! promise!) in my defense, (i think) i said something about this last chapter, but i had two early entry maths GCSE's last week, which took up a lot of time :( so that's why no chapter materialised last week, and i'm very sorry. anyway, on to this week! i personally i think the title of this chapter sounds a bit like a band 'Emrys and the Druids'. do you think so? thank you to SpanglyPony, SpanaHana, muggletribute, StormQueen6711, Merlinisawesome, and ravenwriter101 for reviewing. what a lovely lot of reviewers, makes me very happy :D**

**This weeks line submitted and used in the chapter is 'You have got to be joking!' from Merlinisawesome, so thank you for that. i really enjoyed trying to fit it into the storyline, actually!**

**enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer - see ch1**

* * *

_Merlin_

When I woke up, I was in a sort of…cell, I suppose. The floor was earth, as appeared to be three of the four walls. The fourth was a harsh concrete one, with a tall wooden door in the centre. I shivered when I saw it.

I was attached with chains to the concrete wall. I wondered if they knew I had magic.

Suddenly the door flew open, and in strode three figures, a dark cloaked one, backed up by two others in armour. His guards. Against me? I didn't know.

One of the guards stepped forward and grabbed me, unlocking me from my chains. He forced me to follow his friends out of the door, and up an earthen staircase.

From there, the corridor seemed to merge into a more modern one, with walls such as the ones found in the castle at the centre of Camelot. In fact, the similarities between this castle and Camelot, at least in its appearance, at the moment, were unnerving.

I was pushed and pulled by the guards into a large hall that once again looked an awful lot like Camelot. I was really freaked out by now.

Then I was struck by a horrible thought. What if…what if this was Camelot? I had no idea how long I'd been out, for all I knew it could have been weeks. What if my captors had been part of a larger force, one who had invaded Camelot, much like Morgana had done on numerous occasions.

And if that was the case…if that was the case…where was Arthur? Where were my brothers? Arthur, at least, wasn't one to abandon Camelot or myself, and Gwaine would hardly let him do so. Let alone Gaius. So that left only one conclusion. One horrible, unthinkable conclusion. What if they were all…

No. I couldn't think like that. I turned to the dark cloaked figure who had followed the three of us into the hall.

"Who are you? What have you done with Arthur?" I spat. From the little of his face I could see, namely his mouth, I could see he was amused, his lips quirking up into a small smirk.

"Nothing…_yet_." I frowned. That voice was familiar, somehow. He smirked again. He must have seen the confusion on my face.

"Who are you!?" I demanded. He smirked yet again. I was getting seriously annoyed by that by now.

"Why Emrys, don't you remember me?" he asked. I shivered. _That voice…_

I gasped as I remembered who it had belonged to. He lowered his hood to reveal my fears. He had changed, but was still recognisable. His main feature was now the long scar running across one cheek and the bridge of his nose, curling around his neck into the depths of the hood. But it was definitely him.

I breathed his name, almost silently.

"_Mordred…"_

* * *

_Gwaine_

After a night's rest, I knew what I had to do.

_Find the druids, take the one Merlin told me about to Camelot, get reinforcements - namely Arthur, find Merlin…_

Find Merlin. That was the one my heart said should be at the top of that list, but instead it was at the bottom. I wished I could rush out there right now and find him, but I had promised him…_on my magic…_that I would find the druids first. So now I had to do so.

I set out on foot. I had found my way back to camp the night before, following a magic trail that Merlin must have set. I'd found that the horse was still there, fortunately, and I found the stone that Merlin had enchanted. It wasn't showing giving me any clues as to which way to go at the moment, however, so I'd decided to get some rest. I had no idea how long it would take me to find the druids, and then I would be going straight to find Merlin, so I'd decided I should get as much rest now as I could. I'd lain down and fallen asleep immediately.

What felt like almost instantly, I'd woken up again. However, I'd realised as I rolled over, it was morning. Almost afternoon, in fact, with the sun high in the sky. And I'd cursed. I had been hoping to get an early start. I'd stood up and cursed again. I discovered I'd forgotten to tie the horse up and it had wandered off in the night. Of course I could have gone looking for it, but I really wanted to get on and find the druids, sooner rather than later.

So I'd set off on foot. And now here I was wandering through a forest with no guidance but a stone. Fantastic. If my father could see me now…

Not that I had the faintest inclination to care whatever the hell he thought of me now. Not after…what he'd done. Noble or not, for all I cared he could rot in hell.

I'd finally worked out how the stone worked. If there was a split in the path, I just held the stone towards each of the exits, and when it was in front of the right one, the stone heated up and glowed a faint blue colour. I supposed I would look a bit ridiculous to anyone who came across me on their travels, but I didn't care. I just wanted to find the damn camp already.

Eventually, after half a day of travelling, find it I did.

It was well hidden, down a concealed entrance that I wouldn't have seen if it wasn't for the stone in my hand, heating up so much I almost dropped it. Clearly, the druids valued their secrecy and didn't enjoy visitors. Despite this, I pressed on anyway.

There must have been guards who had witnessed my arrival, for when I arrived in clearing surrounded by a large number of tents, there was a small welcoming party of people waiting for me. With less welcoming than people. And since there was only five of them, that was saying something. I cleared my throat and tried to remember what Merlin had said to tell them.

"I…I come on behalf of Emrys." I said, and immediately I could tell they were going to listen to what I had to say. "I come on his behalf to…finish the peace treaty. Can you tell me where Iseldar is?" I looked at the group.

Then one of them stepped forwards. "I am Iseldar." he said "But how do we know you are who you say you are?"

It was then that I remembered the last thing Merlin had said to tell them.

"I am the Unexpected Dragonlord." I said, and immediately they looked friendlier, if a little shocked.

"This is great news indeed." said Iseldar. "Come, Sir Gwaine. Let us discuss the peace treaty."

I followed him past the four remaining people and into one of the largest looking tents that I could see around me, not bothering to wonder how the druid had known my name. Inside, it was plain but interesting, with only the essentials there. However, my version of the essentials must have been very different to mine, I suspected, and I didn't comment on it. There was also a few herbs and crystals lying around.

"Merlin says you are his second in command?" I half told half asked him. He smiled.

"I often forget the name by which you call him. Yes, Emrys is the leader of the druids, and I his 'second in command' as you put it." He paused for a moment, then asked "Where is Emrys, and why has he sent you instead?" His tone was not offending, more curious, and I thought about how much to tell him.

"I don't know." I said honestly. "we were coming to see you - to finish the treaty, not that I knew at the time. Last night, we stopped and then he taught me to summon the dragons. Then Kilgharrah gave him a cryptic warning, beware the call or something. On the way back he told me about the treaty and that if something were to happen to him on this journey that I should come here and finish this before even starting to look for him, and I promised him. Not even ten minutes later, we were attacked by bandits. He protected me and I got away, but they took him. I have no idea where he is or what they could have done to him."

I had deliberately not mentioned our visit to Freya and the lake, feeling that it was too private and personal to Merlin. As I had kept speaking, Iseldar had let me. Now, however, he said "You promised him? Did you not want to break it and find him?"

"I did at first." I admitted "But I trust Merlin, and if he made me promise something, I realised, then it must have been for a reason." I explained. Iseldar looked strangely satisfied.

He pulled out a piece of paper, across which was a lot of writing. I realised that it must be the peace treaty that both he and Arthur needed to sign. "If Emrys has sent you in his place," he said "Then he must trust you to do as he would have done on this matter."

He passed me the piece of paper, and gestured at me to read it. I did so, and was stunned. "did Merlin write this?" I asked.

"Indeed he did. He was particularly insistent on certain parts."

I could see why. The treaty appeared to cover everything from the druids being allowed back in Camelot and to trade with the people there, to a copy of the set of rules that every magic user in Camelot now had to follow. I had to admit, I was very impressed.

"It looks amazing." I said, handing it back. Then I paused. "What happens now?"

Iseldar smiled again, before summoning a pen over to him from where it lay on a desk nearby, and signing his name on the signified place carefully, before rolling it up and handing it back to me again.

"I think it would be best if you were to hold on to this, Sir Gwaine." he told me "He might accept it better from you than from a druid he has never met before - under friendly circumstances, at least - who has arrived unexpectedly.

"Wha…are we going now?" I spluttered.

"Of course. Has Emrys shown you how to teleport yet?" he asked.

"_Teleport!_" I was excited. This opened up a whole new avenue of experiences for me. Imagine, I could start a tavern brawl, and then when it got out of hand just…teleport away. I grinned.

Iseldar looked at me. "You may not look like that after this." he told me, before grabbing my arm and…suddenly we were in Camelot.

"Whoa!" I breathed. "That was…incredible."

Across the courtyard from where we had landed, I could see the rest of the knights of the round table approaching. Soon, the two of us were surrounded by Percival, Leon, and Elyan.

"Where's Arthur?" I asked.

"Conducting his public meeting as he does every Wednesday, Gwaine." said Percival, looking at me oddly.

"Hold it. Wednesday?" as far as I was aware, when Merlin and I had set out the day before, it had been a Monday. So that must mean…

"Hold on. I think that means I slept for the _whole_ of yesterday." Elyan laughed.

"It wouldn't be the first time, would it Gwaine? Were you drunk this time as well?"

"Where's Merlin?" Percival cut in, asking the question I'd been dreading since I'd seen them. "And whose that beside you?"

"We need to see Arthur." I cut in, ignoring their questions. I turned to Iseldar, who looked amused by the proceedings. "Come on."

I led him through the castle towards the council chambers, the two of us being trailed by the knights the whole way. When we reached them I didn't stop, but instead barged straight in, not caring what was going on inside.

At the noise, Arthur looked up, annoyed, an expression which changed when he saw me. "Gwaine!" he explained. Then his eyes narrowed. "Where's Merlin?"

"That, sire," I told him "is a really long story."

I then explained everything that happened since we had left two days previously, again leaving out the bit about Freya. I would tell him about that later, in private.

When I had finished, Arthur let out a long breath. While I had been talking, the hall had cleared from all apart from the six of us, Gaius, and Gwen.

"So basically," he summed up "Merlin has been kidnapped…_again_…and you _foolishly_ made a promise not to rescue him until after this treaty had been signed. You have got to be joking! I honestly swear, Gwaine sometimes you have less of a brain than Merlin."

"Good to know." said a voice from behind us. We all swung round to see an exhausted looking Merlin leaning on an old stick and favouring his left leg, broken arm unbound. He looked at us and then at his king.

"Hello, Arthur."

* * *

**AN - Ooooooohhhhhh! exciting! what did you think? love it? hate it? either way, please leave a review!**

**On another note, what did you think about the allusions to Gwaine's father? do you want some more on that? also, do you think Gwaine had been ooc at all in any of these chapters? for some reason, I always find him really hard to write in character, so would appreciate any feedback on that please!**

**Oh, and the possible return of a surprise character next chapter! a real twist, methinks! who do you want it to be? please leave a review and tell me, or to ask about anything you're unsure of!**

**-APP**


	8. Until The Time Is Right

**AN - Hellooooo! yay! it's still thursday! yippee! the chapter's on time! yay! ont his not, this week i got a job (i am 16 now, yay) which is going to take up five hourd of my time every week, so...**

**PLEASE READ*IMPORTANT*IMPORTANT*IMPORTANT*IMPORTANT*PLEASE READ*IMPORTANT*IMPORTANT*IMPORTANT*IMPORTANT* IMPORTANT ****I need to know if you would rather i did one of two things reguarding the new chapters of this story. would you rathern i...**

**A) updated every two weeks instead of every week?**

**OR**

**B) stopped updating completly until i have finished the stroy in its entirety, and then update all of the chapters when i have finished?**

**it's up to you. if no one expresses any prefference, then i'll just choose one, but i would really rather have your input on this. thank you in advance for your response!**

**also thank you to StormQueen6711, SpanaHana, Nebriniel Peredhil, muggletribute, katieandted97, SpangleyPony, and Merlinisawesome for reviewing. you guys are awesome! free e-cookies for you all!**

**this weeks line is 'I will destroy you!' and is one of mine, i'm afraid. i honestly couldnt get anyof the others in. i am sorry :(**

**disclaimer - see ch1 :D**

* * *

_Merlin, two days ago_

"_Mordred_" I breathed. He smirked.

"So glad you remember me, Emrys." he said with a sneer. "But do you remember what you _did_ to me!?"

I flinched. "Every time." I told him honestly. He sneered again, obviously not believing me. There was a pause, before he started towards me.

"Do you know where we are, Emrys?" he asked. I decided my best bet for escape was to try and keep him talking.

"No." I told him "But it looks a lot like Camelot." He smiled eerily, and I instantly decided, much as I hated it, I preferred it when he sneered. It was much less frightening.

"That's because it was designed to." he said, and I let out a silent sigh of relief. If this wasn't the actual Camelot, just a replica, then the lack of people usually found there, such as Arthur and Gwen and Gaius and the knights, was almost guaranteed, so, it was very unlikely that they were, as I had previously feared, dead.

"So who designed it?" I asked "Surely not you? You hate the place." I stated, and the sneer returned. Yes, I definitely preferred it over the smile, I decided. That smile was just…creepy.

"No." He said finally. "It wasn't me." There was another short pause. "It was Morgana."

I let in a sharp breath. "Morgana? So you were working with her then?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"We were…allies, I suppose. But only when it suited us."

I nodded. I could understand that. I then rethought what I had just thought, horrified. Was I really like Mordred and Morgana? In more ways than just as users of magic? I shuddered.

I knew I had to get out of there, but before I could even start to formulate an escape plan, Mordred clicked his fingers at the two guards. Instantly, they were by my sides, dragging me to my feet.

"Take him back downstairs." He told them. "And don't hurt him…too much." I shuddered at the pleasure in his voice at the thought of seeing me in pain.

* * *

The guards dumped me on the floor of the cell, and instantly I was up, turned round to face them. The two of them stood there, cracking their knuckles menacingly. My body was stiff with anticipation. Suddenly, a third person appeared in my peripheral vision, approaching from behind, and before I could react, I was out cold.

* * *

I could see someone in front of my, but as my vision was foggy, I couldn't tell who it was straight away. As my vision cleared I recognised them.

Morgana.

I went to say something, and she held up her hand.

"Listen to me, Merlin." she said "I haven't much time." obediently I closed my mouth again and looked at her expectantly. She took a deep breath and continued.

"Now that I'm gone, Merlin, you must be careful. I'm warning you Merlin, be careful of Mordred. For many years I have been the only thing preventing him from coming after Arthur and more specifically you. No, I don't have time to answer questions!" she said desperately as I opened my mouth again. "You must promise me Merlin, Emrys, promise me that you will be careful of him." she pleaded. I nodded shakily.

"I promise ."

She looked visibly received. "Good. Now, as for getting yourself out of there, behind you, hidden in the earth, is a passage, hidden from all who do not know of it. It will lead you to the valley of the fallen kings. You must use it to escape, and get back to Arthur. As quickly as possible!" I nodded again.

"One last thing." she told me. "You will not remember this dream, or that I was in it, Until The Time Is Right. You will remember that you made a promise to someone to beware of Mordred, but will have no idea of who it was to, or why. You will also have the idea to search your cell for an escape route. Nothing else, Until The Time Is Right"

"And when will The Time be Right?" I asked. She smiled, as soft smile that I remembered of my friend in Camelot, rather than my enemy out of it. Or not my enemy, perhaps, if this dream was anything to go by.

"You will know." she told me, before starting to fade. As I watched her do so, I wondered what she had meant about preventing Mordred from coming after Arthur and I. As I started to wake up, I could have sworn a heard her whisper "Thank you, Merlin."

* * *

I woke up and groaned as I rolled over onto my side. The pain in my left leg was excruciating. Not to mention that my arm, which had been unbound since the attack the day before, was throbbing like mad. I moaned loudly. I didn't want to move.

Finally, I decided I needed to get up. For some reason, I had a strange memory of making a promise to someone to beware of Mordred. Ha. As if I wouldn't have done that anyway. What was worrying was that I had no idea who it was or why they had made me make that promise.

I had also decided at some point, probably subconsciously during the night, that I needed to check the cell I was in for any possible way to escape. I knew it was really very unlikely, but still felt that I ought to check anyway.

Carefully, I rolled over again onto my stomach, and braced my right leg underneath myself. From there, I carefully balanced against the wall and got both my left and right leg underneath me. I tried to take my weight off of the wall, and immediately crashed back into it. There was no way my leg was going to take my weight.

I reached into my magic, and created a large crutch type stick that I could lean on. From there, supported myself on both the stick and my right leg, and carefully started hobbling my way around the room.

First I approached the door, and sent out my magic towards it to see if it was loose or there was any chance I could knock it out of the wall with my magic. As I had suspected, it was reinforced with magic, as was the wall around it. Next I approached carefully towards the walls. The two either side of the concrete one were solid, but in the back wall there appeared to be a bit that, according to my magic, was simply…not there.

Cautiously I approached this 'gap' in the wall, and stretched my hand out towards it. To my immense surprise, it appeared to go straight through it. Cautiously, as I could not see and was unsure what was on the other side, I submerged more and more of myself into the wall, until finally, my head slid through as well. The wall felt like a cool sheet of water on my skin, but didn't leave me at all wet, or even damp.

I now appeared to be standing in a well-lit tunnel with brightly burning torches every few feet. As I slowly set of, limping and leaning heavily on my stick, I discovered that the tunnel had many twists and turns. I had a fairly good sense of direction, or at least I thought I did, and I realised that I was sort of heading in the direction of Camelot, and my thoughts were only fixed on one thing.

'_Arthur.'_

* * *

_Mordred_

"Well, Emrys, are you ready to talk again today?" I asked loudly as I approached the warlock's underground cell. The door few open as I approached to show…that it was empty. I screamed. I flew round, furious, to face the two guards stood behind me.

"_FIND HIM!"_

Once they had left, I spoke quietly to myself but also to Merlin. I made a promise to myself

"I will destroy you, Emrys."

* * *

_Merlin_

Suddenly, I felt a shiver go through my heart, and knew, somehow, that Mordred knew of my escape. I hastened on through the tunnel, towards what I hoped was Camelot.

Eventually I emerged from the tunnel after about half a day of walking. Blinking in the bright sunshine, I stepped into the light of the sun and realised that I was stood in the Valley of the Fallen Kings, not far from the crystal cave. I shivered. The sooner I got out of here, I quickly decided, the better.

As fast as I could with my bad leg, I set of in the direction I hoped I knew that Camelot lay. I had been here and gotten into trouble here so many times with Arthur and the other knights, usually through no fault of my own, that I was sure that I could have found my way back to Camelot with my eyes closed by now.

Somehow, over the next day and a half, without stopping for rest, I found my way back in Camelot. I was not entirely sure how, by any means, but I knew that I had done it. Eventually. In twice the time it would have normally taken on foot if my leg hadn't been bad.

As had walked, the pain in my arm had faded complexly, and the pain in my leg had faded to a dull throb. However, I suspected this was due to the fact that I had gotten used to it rather than it actually getting better. However much the pain had lessened, however, I hadn't been able to discard the stick I had been using for support, or lean on it any less. In fact, I had had to reinforce it with magic to stop it from snapping in half.

Before I decided to burst into the council chambers where I guessed Arthur would be and potentially interrupt something important that would benefit the future of Camelot, I first decided to check on what he was doing. I used magic to summon an image in the air in front of me of what Arthur was doing. It was much harder to create an image in the air than it was on water, but I had quickly discovered that I was very efficient at doing so.

The image showed Arthur indeed in the council chambers, stood with Elyan, Percival, and Leon, and also, to my delight and surprise, Gwaine and Iseldar. I grinned. _Good old Gwaine._ I had known I could rely on him, and now knew I had been right to do so.

From what I could see, Gwaine appeared to be attempting to explain to Arthur who Iseldar was and why he was there. I immediately headed of, as fast as I could, to put in an appearance and offer my help with any possible smoothing of the situation that I might need to do.

I put on a quick disguise so that no-one would recognise me walking through Camelot and leaning on my stick, and try to intercept me. It was imperative that I got to the council chambers as soon as I could to avert any potential arising disasters.

I didn't want to use that main door, as that would draw a lot of notice to myself. This was the last thing I wanted, as I only wanted to have to step in if it was absolutely necessary. Besides, it would be a good experience for Gwaine I decided with a grin.

Because of this, I approached the council chambers through the antechamber at the back. I decided to wait in there until I needed to step in, if at all.

I arrived in time to hear Arthur say "So basically, Merlin has been kidnapped…_again_…and you _foolishly_ made a promise not to rescue him until after this treaty had been signed. You have got to be joking! I honestly swear, Gwaine sometimes you have less of a brain than Merlin."

By this sentence alone, I knew that I would have to interfere. I sighed, before removing my disguise and opening the doors between me and the council chambers with magic. I took a step in.

"Good to know." I said. I was honestly to exhausted to say anything else.

They all swung around to see me, their faces pictures of shock. I knew how I must look to them, exhausted, and leaning heavily on my stick, looked at my king, and said the only thing I could say.

"Hello, Arthur."

* * *

**AN - so? SO? what did you think? please leave me a review and tell me! also tell me what you think about my new update times! :D thank you!**

**-APP**


	9. Treaty and Coexistance

**AN - hi! so, as you can see, i've decided to update every two weeks instead of waiting until the story is finished before posting it. it was the option that most people chose, and truthfuly, it was the one i would rather have done. i'm only sorry i have to slow the updates down at all, but it is my GCSE year, so...sorry :(**

**on a slightly happier note, thank you to all of you lovely people who reviewed my last chapter : Moon Fox, SpanaHana, muggletribute, HPandWforever, StormQueen6711, SpangleyPony, Merlinisawesome, and 1983Sarah. thank you all very muchly, you lovely people! :D**

**this weeks line is - "Please," Merlin said to the maid, "Don't call me lord. Just Merlin." from Cinnimania (Guest). so thank you very much for that!**

**and now...on with the chapter! **

**disclaimer - see chapter one**

* * *

_Merlin_

They all gaped at me, open-mouthed, as I stood there in the open doorway.

"Don't let me stop you." I told them "I'm just here to smooth things over if necessary"

I hobbled forwards, leaning heavily on my stick. Gwaine rushed forward to assist me.

"Thanks." I told him as he slung an arm carefully around my shoulders, supporting me. Shakily, he summoned a chair towards us, frowning as it stopped halfway. He tried again, glaring at it as it refused to come the full distance.

"Looks like we'll have to work on that one." I told him lightly, as he gave up on summoning the chair and just helped me over to it instead. By this time, Arthur had come over to us, the three of us watched by a curious Iseldar. I smiled at him briefly over Arthur's shoulder, before shifting my gaze up onto his face. The next minute I found myself trapped in his grasp.

"_Arthur!_"

* * *

_Arthur_

I grasped my brother in a firm hug. I think I surprised him, as he exclaimed "_Arthur!_" before relaxing into it and hugging me back. After a few moments I let go, trying fearfully to work out the full extent of my brother's injuries.

"I'm fine, Arthur." he grumbled. I stared at him in disbelief.

"Fine? _Fine?_ You call this _fine!?__"_ I asked, gesturing to his battered body. He shrugged, looking sheepish, but I wasn't finished yet. No, I was on a role now, and nothing short of a miracle - or maybe a dragon or two - was going to get me off of it until I was good and ready.

"You and Gwaine go on a suspicious secret mission and go missing for two days. Then, when Gwaine - who was supposed to be _protecting _you - _does_ finally turn up, it's with a guy I last met under very hostile circumstances who is most definitely _not you_! Then, you have the gall to walk in here as if nothing at all has happened, with a bad leg and what I suspect to be broken ribs at the very least, and just tell us to _carry on_ as if none of that actually happened!"

By now I was breathing quite heavily, my distress at the thought of my two injured or missing brothers having transferred itself into my actions and words, so that by the time I finished my little rant, I was shouting, and Merlin had actually shrunk back into his chair as I had got louder and louder, and more and more intimidating.

"Um…sorry?" he offered, and I exploded again.

"Gah!" I stepped away from them both and started pacing so that I didn't end up exploding in their faces again.

"_Sorry! _That's all you can say? _Sorry!?_" I yelled at him. I took a deep breath, determined to calm myself down and stop shouting, as Merlin now looked extremely intimidated. "I swear, Merlin, you must be some sort of trouble magnet."

Merlin spluttered, appearing to have some sort of a fit, and I stepped towards him, worried that his injuries had caused some sort of negative effect on his body, before he burst into peals of apparently unstoppable laughter. After a minute or two, though, he did stop. He looked up at me through his fringe, still fighting to control his laughter and his breathing. It was evident, by the pain on his face, that his laughing fit had aggravated his damaged ribs.

"I'm sorry, Arthur," he told me "But if anyone's a trouble magnet, it's you." I frowned and he elaborated. "Do you remember that list I gave you after my death?" he asked, and I shivered and nodded, remembering.

"Okay, you do have a point" I told him grudgingly, and he sat up straighter, smiling smugly. "Oh, don't let it go to your head." I told him irritably, and he laughed.

Behind me, someone cleared their throat, and I started. I had forgotten that the druid was in the room with us.

"Ah yes, Merlin, would you care to explain why there is a druid in the room with us who Gwaine insists wants to sign a peace treaty with us, of which I have heard nothing about before?"

"Um…"

"I'm waiting."

"Well…you remember all those trips I was making to see the druids? The ones I promised to tell you about when we got back?" Merlin asked cautiously.

I nodded "Yessss-oh I see where this is going!" I groaned.

"Well…tadaa!" said Merlin theatrically, but also a touch sarcastically.

"So…let me get this straight?" I told him. "On each of your mysterious trips you've been making over the past few weeks, you've been secretly organising a treaty between Camelot and the druids, explaining…what, the rules for using magic? And you, my clumsy court sorcerer, did this all behind my back without anyone realising or working it out? Well, there's really only one thing I can say to that Merlin." I told him. He looked really worried now, which, mixed with the pain he was still wearing on his face, was really not a good look for him.

"Next time, don't do it behind my back!" he looked shocked. "Honestly, Merlin, have you forgotten that magic is legal now?" he blinked up at me. "Or that, as my court sorcerer, you're _expected_ to do this type of thing?" he blinked again, which irritated me.

"Well _say_ something then!" I told him

"Um…you're welcome?" he tried tentatively. I sighed. "Thank you, Merlin."

Gwaine, who had been keeping very quiet, spoke up now. "Shall we just get on with it, so that Merlin can go and be checked by Gaius as quickly as possible?" he said, almost brusquely. It was my turn to blink stupidly. Then I turned around _again_ to face the druid behind me in the centre of the room, who was smiling passively at the antics of the three of us. I coloured slightly.

"Yes, well." I said. I stretched out a hand in front of me. "Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot." I introduced myself. "I don't honestly think we've met under friendly circumstances." He still smiled, and grasped my hand in his.

"I believe not." He agreed "Iseldar Carlan of the druids. Second in command to Lord Emrys."

Behind him, Arthur could almost _hear_ Merlin's face burning a bright crimson colour in embarrassment, and smirked to myself.

'_Never going to get old, that__'_ I told myself, thankful that Merlin couldn't read minds. Then I focused on the rest of what he'd said.

"_Second in command_ to Emrys? But that's…" I half turned to Merlin before remembering. "Oh, right, I remember you telling us now." I said aloud, before lowering my voice and muttering "Along with about fifty billion other bits of information all at the same time."

In front of me, Iseldar smiled. He must have heard what I'd said.

From behind me, Merlin's voice sounded, apparently affronted.

"Just because _you_ couldn't absorb it all at once, _Sire_, doesn't mean that you have to exaggerate about the details." I waved my hand vaguely in his direction to emphasis the fact that I really didn't care about what he was saying. He continued anyway.

"And yes, Iseldar _is_ my second in command as leader of the druids, and it's in that capacity that he's acting today."

Merlin stood up slowly, grimacing with a painful expression contorting his face as he supported himself once more on his stick and carefully limped his way over to us, Gwaine following slightly behind him to catch him in case he fell. When he reached us, he faced Iseldar. "Do you have it?" he asked. In response, he pointed to Gwaine, who started slightly, as if he had just remembered something important, before reaching into his pocket, pulling out, and handing to Merlin a rolled up scroll of paper. Merlin unrolled it, and then breathed a sigh of relief at what he saw.

Then he turned to me "Read it and sign it." he told me firmly, without any hesitation in his voice, only a firm ordering tone.

"Was that an order, Merlin?" I asked him smirking, amused.

"Of course not Sire." was his cheeky reply. I laughed slightly, before unrolling the scrolled paper and reading what was written on it. My expression became more and more shocked as I read further and further down the page, and when I reached the bottom and looked up, my face must have been the perfect picture of utter astonishment.

"What…who…did you write this!?" I demanded to Merlin. He hesitated slightly before nodding. I was completely speechless. Finally, I said "I think I should get you to write laws and treaties more often, Merlin." He beamed with pleasure.

"Will you sign it?" he asked. " I can't, even though I usually would as court sorcerer , as I am an official part of both courts, so you will have to." he paused, before saying "Or I could just ask Gwaine."

I was startled for a minute, before I realised what he meant.

"What? Of course I'll sign it!"

Gwaine handed me a pen, perhaps one he or Merlin had conjured from somewhere, and I signed my name on the appropriate line. Then, I handed the pen to Iseldar, who followed suit. I rolled it back up and handed it to Merlin, who hesitated before unrolling it again. I looked at him, confused, and he explained what he was considering doing.

"I want to bind the treaty with magic." he said hesitantly "It's an old custom that used to be performed in Camelot, to make the treaty still binding long after both of your deaths, which hopefully will not be for many years yet." He shivered. "Anyway, obviously, this usually wasn't done except for the most important of treaty's and laws, but I think this one merits it, don't you?" he asked us. I nodded my head.

"It sounds like a brilliant idea." I told him, and he smiled. "What do you have to do?" I asked him.

"Hardly anything." he told me, before turning to Gwaine, and saying "Do you want to help?" He looked briefly surprised, before eagerly shaking it of and affirming that, yes, he did most definitely want to help.

"First, we need to be joined together as a single - ring, I suppose - for the magic to flow round." he told us. "and the more magic users there are in the circle, the better. However, not everyone in the circle can have magic, especially for a treaty of this nature, or it simply won't work." he informed us, mostly, I think, for Gwaine's benefit, maybe in case he had to perform it in the future, perhaps when Merlin was…away.

Carefully, we shuffled around awkwardly, finally holding hands, with Iseldar and I holding the scroll of paper between us instead. From there, I almost _felt_, instead of heard, Merlin say an incantation, and then sigh as if he was relieving the pressure of his magic from inside his body. Then, the same thing happened with Iseldar and Gwaine, too, and suddenly, the circle was suddenly thrumming with magic. Alive.

I gasped as the magic flowed through me. It felt wonderful and warm and _safe!_ It felt…magical.

"If this is the way it feels to use magic," I told them "Then I don't blame you for wanting to use it whenever it's possible." My answer was a wry chuckle from Merlin, and a more natural one from each of the other two.

Suddenly, the doors burst open, to reveal a maid standing there. Shesqueaked with fright, before hurriedly closing the doors again.

Merlin sighed and reluctantly released the magic. I hummed in disapproval as the lovely feel of magic slipped just out of my grasped. Merlin chuckled again.

"Well, I know what to do next time you're reluctant to go through with something I ask!" he grinned at me, and then sighed. "Now, however, we need to go and sort out the mess caused my the maid walking in. No doubt there are now a dozen knights waiting outside the door, and probably Gaius as well, no doubt, ready to fight of the sorcerers she thought where trying to kidnap you, Arthur." he finished amusedly.

Then he turned to Iseldar. "Thank you for this." he said, and then his tone turned apologetic. "I am sorry about this, but maybe you should…" "I'll go." he said firmly, and turned to me. "Thank you, Once and Future King, for agreeing to this treaty between our peoples. And thank you, Emrys for arranging it. I hope our people will be able to coexist happily and peacefully side by side for a long while to come." With that, he disappeared with a swirl of magic.

"Questions later." said Merlin fiercely "Face the masses now!"

With that, he raised his hand in the direction of the door, opening it as his hand fell again.

Immediately, we were faced with about ten or so knights, including the round table ones, Gaius, and the maid who had walked in on us earlier. When she recognised Merlin she squeaked in fright, where as Gaius just looked relieved to see us all okay, especially Merlin.

"I'm so sorry, my lord!" she started to babble - at Merlin! "I didn't recognise any of you except the king, and it looked as if you were trying to take him away, and no-one had seen you in ages, anyway, so I didn't even know you were in there, and…"

"Enough!" Merlin finally interrupted her firmly. "First of all, Please" Merlin said to the maid, "Don't call me lord. Just Merlin." She nodded, shamefaced. "Second…that's perfectly alright. Everyone makes mistakes after all." He grinned at her. Suddenly, he went quiet. "Sire!" Gaius called in alarm to me. "Catch!"

He pointed behind me, and I turned around just in time to catch my court sorcerer just as he toppled over and passed out, either from exhaustion or from his injuries. I looked down at his faced and sighed.

"Not again, Merlin!" I complained to the unconscious man in my arms.

But Merlin didn't stir.

* * *

**AN - i'm sorry! i'm sorry! i did it again! i'm sorry! *evil grin* well, actully, i'm not really that sorry, but...please dont hurt me! please!**

**what did you think? leave a review and let me know! thank you for all of the lovely responses i recieved in response to my query about the update rate last week. it's quite nice to know that people actully are reading the author's notes, and not just the chapter :D**

**okay, another question this week - are the chapters too short? honestly? i hadnt really realised that they were so short before, until i had to go on last week and find a mistake that i had to fix (thanks Spangley Pony!)**

**also, i'm running out of merlin fanfiction to read on the site. shocking, i know. any recomendations? i'm not fussy and i read most things, especially merthur. BIG merthu shipper over here, people! not that any will appear in this story. besides, this story isnt really about romance (in case you hadn't already noticed! :D). thank you for any suggestions in advance!**

**-APP**


	10. His Biggest Secret

**AN - MERRY CHRISRTMAS PEOPLE! who saw the last EVER merlin episode? i wont say anythin to incriminating incase some of you havent read it but...GAAAAAH! HOW COULD THEY DO THAT TO US!**

**anyway, here is the extra-long chapter as promised! also, i have something to ask you all at the end of the chapter, so make sure to pay attention please!**

**thank you so much to SpanaHana, SpangleyPony, Nebriniel Peredhil, StormQueen6711, Merlinisawesome, 1983Sarah, and katieandted97 for reviewing he last proper chapter, and ESPECIALLY to StormQueen6711, Nebriniel Peredhil, and SpangleyPony for reviewing the chapter that wasnt. you guys make me feel so special and loved! :D**

**Line - Katie is my best friend - katieandted97**

**and merry christmas, one and all!**

**disclaimer - see ch1**

* * *

_Gwaine _

"Quickly, get him inside, set him down on the bench." said Gaius urgently. Carefully, Arthur set Merlin down where Gaius had instructed him to, before quickly backing away again to allow Gaius room to get to him and work. As Gaius started examining the unconscious warlock, he began to stir. Arthur and I started forward, before Gaius scowled and hushed us back, in order to give Merlin some room as he awoke.

Said previously unconscious warlock moaned and opened his eyes from where he lay on the table, before quickly closing them again. Despite Gaius previous warnings and his adorning smile, Arthur quickly rushed forwards.

I, however, hung back. For no other reason than the simple one that I had no wish to see my brother in pain any more than I had to. And I had definitely seem him in more than enough pain than I had ever wanted to, let alone only in one day.

Merlin and Arthur appeared to be holding some sort of conversation, and although they were speaking loudly and making no effort to hide what they were saying, I didn't listen. For the same reason. I had no wish to hear the obvious pain in my brother's voice as he spoke.

I did, however, listen in as Gaius reeled off a list of injuries that Merlin was currently suffering from and inflicted with.

Three broken ribs.

Arthur had been right about those.

Fractured fibula.

_Broken _tibia.

Two broken fingers.

Mild concussion.

Miraculously, somehow, Merlin's arm was no longer broken, and Merlin swore to Gaius he hadn't used magic to fix it.

"You know I wouldn't, Gaius." he said "You said it would damage the bone permanently." He looked thoughtful, before looking at me and saying "I think it was the dragon." I was still silent. I hadn't said a word since Merlin had woken up.

What had shocked me most of all, was not the extensive list of injuries, but, indeed, the almost _bored_ tone Gaius used as he listed of the numerous injuries of his ward, as if it was something he had done many times before.

Then I started, shocked, as I realised that that was because he _had._

I stumbled to me feet as I made my excuses and left. I just couldn't stand to be in there any longer, and from the look on his face, I think that Merlin understood. I was grateful for that.

Now, I would go and visit an old friend.

"To the tavern!" I mumbled quietly to myself, before quickly setting off towards the lower town.

* * *

_Arthur_

I sighed as Gwaine left. I had a good idea about where he would be headed.

I could tell he hadn't really been paying attention as Merlin and had I held our conversation. Over Merlin's shoulder I had seen his glazed expression, showing that he was (unusually, for him) thinking, and deeply, about something important.

I frowned as I remembered the troubled expression he had been wearing on his face as he had left, a remnant of the one which had been on his face as Gaius had listed of his seemingly everlasting list of Merlin's injuries.

Now Merlin sighed, looking at the expression on _my_ face.

"Go after him, Arthur." he told me. I went to protest but he interrupted me. "_Now_." I hesitated, still reluctant to leave him - _my brother_ - alone after what had just happened to him. Well, alone with anyone who wasn't me or Gwaine, at least. But then again, Gaius was his carer, I supposed.

"Go." he told me sternly again. "I'm about to fall asleep here anyway, Arthur." he told me with a yawn.

"So _go!"_

I finally went to do as he's told me, glancing back as I reached the door, to tell him something, only to find that he had, as promised, fallen asleep again where he lay on Gaius' workbench.

"Sleep well, my brother." I told him with a small smile.

* * *

When I said I had a _good_ idea about where Gwaine had been headed, that _may_ have been a small lie.

Actually, I had a _vague_ idea about where he was _probably_ going.

I knew he had most likely gone to a tavern.

The problem is that there are numerous taverns populating Camelot, spread out far and wide all over the lower town.

I know that the lower town isn't actually all that massive, in comparison, say, to the castle, but it was still large enough.

An added problem was that Gwaine could be known to frequent most, if not _all_ of them on a regular basis.

I was going to need backup.

Normally, my first contact for backup when I went (all too frequently) tavern hunting for Gwaine, was Merlin. Unfortunately, my court sorcerer was currently…incapacitated…so it was down to me to fall back on some others.

My first stop was Elyan. Who wasn't there. I frowned. I didn't remember him having guard duty tonight, but then again, I _had_ been a bit busy with Merlin to look properly at the schedule.

When I went to get Percival, I presumed the same thing, that he was on patrol.

It was when I went to fetch Leon, my oldest friend and one of my most trusted knights, and _he_ wasn't there either, that I knew that something was definitely up.

I knew Leon would never schedule more than two of my four (if you count Gwaine) most loyal knights to be on patrol on the same knight, in case something were to happen and I needed their help, so it couldn't be that. My heart sank. Gwaine must have got here first.

Tavern hunting for one then, it appeared.

Grudgingly, I set off towards the nearest one. At least I didn't have to worry now, as I knew that most likely the other knights were with him.

Unless they were all smashed out of their skulls as well. (Unlikely for Leon, but you never knew with Gwaine. He could be frighteningly persuasive when it came to alcohol sometimes. As I knew all too well.)

With this thought in my mind, I sped up, anxious to find them all before something happened. As it doubtlessly would. It always did.

After seemingly searching more than half of the numerous taverns in Camelot, he finally found what he was looking for.

Gwaine. Elyan. Percival. Leon. All sat, completely off their heads with alcohol consummation, roaring with laughter at something one of them had obviously just said. When he saw me, Elyan looked up.

"Aaaarthur!" he slurred. "Come and _join_ us." He grinned, and I was slightly disturbed to see Leon, the leader of _all_ of my knights, grin sappily in his drunken state at me too.

Then Gwaine saw me "Brother!" he yelled, loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear. "Have a drink!"

Before I could protest, Gwaine signalled over a tavern maid standing nearby. "You there!" he roared "A pint of your finest for the king!"

The woman grinned in a way which made me think that she'd already had one to many herself, and in doing so, revealed two missing teeth.

"Certainly, Sir Gwaine." She curtsied, and walked off towards the bar.

"But…!" I started, as Gwaine interrupted me.

"That's Katie!" he told us, as if confiding his biggest secret to us, but invalidating that point by saying it loud enough for anyone who cared to listen in to hear. "Katie is my best friend."

I laughed, knowing that he honestly didn't mean it, he was just to drunk to care what he was saying.

I suppose it also helped knowing that Merlin and I were Gwaine's best friends, as well as him being ours.

During my musing, Katie had returned and placed a mug of ale on the table in front of me, before winking roguishly at Gwaine and wandering off to serve some more of her customers. I wondered if she was really as drunk as she was pretending to be.

Without realising, I had taken a large mouthful of ale, and somehow, before long, I was as drunk as the knights around me.

Then, at three in the morning, Merlin came.

* * *

_Merlin _

When I awoke, at about half two in the morning, surprisingly, I felt perfectly fine. My body didn't wince or complain once as I stretched and carefully rose from where I lay on the bed in what had been my old bedroom. My magic must have fixed me. Excellent! I was getting bored of being an invalid.

I smiled as I saw Gaius asleep in a chair beside my bed, snoring gently. I picked up the blanket that had been covering me as I lay on the bed only moments previously, and carefully draped it over him.

Then, I quietly left his chambers, knowing there would be hell to pay when Gaius woke up and found me gone. But I had to find them.

I could easily guess where they had gone, and my suspicions were only confirmed when I located the pair of them with my magic. I sighed. Pub-knights cleanup duty again, then.

I remembered all too well the last time Gwaine had…ah, _persuaded _Arthur to get drunk. It had involved a pig, a donkey, copious amounts of mead, someone else's hat that Gwaine appeared to have stolen that we never found the owner of and an awful lot of awkward explanations from the four of them in the morning. Needless to say, I was not looking forward to their repeat performance.

Sighing, I trudged down the hill to where I knew they lay in wait for me. I was _not_ looking forward to lugging them all home. But, I supposed, at least I could use my magic this time.

When I opened the door, the fate that awaited me was worse than I could have ever possibly imagined. Luckily, since it was three o'clock in the morning, there were few patrons left besides the knights, but they were still doing their best to put on a show for them.

Percival appeared to be the most sober of the lot of them. He was sat at the table, watching, amused, with Elyan passed out next to him with his head on the table, snoring loudly.

But it was Arthur and Gwaine who had really caught my attention.

They were stood on top of a nearby table, singing very loudly. And badly. In fact, it was so bad, I wondered why no-one had come to see who was torturing the neighbourhood cats.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

No, it was what they were wearing that had really caught my attention.

Just describing the tall, pointy hats on their heads wouldn't do it justice.

Nor would just mentioning the giant yellow rubber boots they wore on their feet.

But, if you brought into the equation the dresses they were wearing as well, then you might just manage it.

I snorted. And Arthur accused me (even if it was without actually saying so) of cross-dressing.

They still hadn't seen me, so I took this opportunity to clear my throat. They both span round, Gwaine tripping on the hem of his dress and nearly falling off of the table.

"Merlin!" he yelled, seemingly delighted. I sighed.

"Time to get you lot home, I think."

* * *

Luckily, Percival had been just sober enough to get him and Elyan home. That left me with the king and a magic user.

Of course, it didn't help that said magic user kept trying to trip me up with things he levitated in front of my legs. He sniggered and snorted every time I stumbled, and since I didn't have much grace and balance at the best of times (something which Arthur was very fond of reminding me of), it seemed that he was almost constantly doing so.

Thankfully, said prat had passed out by now, otherwise he would have no doubt been laughing his head off as well.

Finally I got fed up and bound Gwaine's magic temporarily. Then, now thoroughly tired of lugging them both about, I used magic to transport Arthur to the middle of his chambers, but on the floor, not on his bed. Let him explain to Gwen in the morning. Then, I took Gwaine up to my chambers. There was no way I was going all the way to his only to then have to walk to mine, or even further, to Gaius'. No, Gwaine would have to spend the night at mine.

I lugged him up the stairs to my guest room and dumped him on the bed. As I turned to leave, he spoke.

"You're a true friend, Merlin, y'no that?" he asked me, eyes squinting, trying to focus on me. "A true brother. You and Arthur, you're my family, know that?" he continued. I could sense he was going somewhere with this currently one-sided conversation, so I stayed quiet and let him talk.

"Got no other family left." he told me. I stilled. Gwaine never spoke about his family. It was regarded by the knights as one of his biggest secrets, and all knew never to ask or speak of it.

"Mind you." he snorted. "My _father_ didn't deserve any family." he spat out the word father as if it was poison. He focused his hazy eyes on me. "He hit her, Merlin. He hit my mother."

I took a sharp intake of breath. Whatever I had been expecting, and I had known it was going to be bad, I had in no way expected anything like that.

"I hated him, and I hated myself for not being able to protect her. God dammit, Merlin, I hated him so much. One day, I couldn't take it any more. He had a sword. I told you he was a noble, when we met, I told you. I took his sword, and I killed him. I ran him through Merlin, and my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. What kind of person does that make me Merlin?" he asked me, as a tear slipped down his cheek. I couldn't answer. I opened my mouth to try and formulate some kind of reply, but as I did so, he rolled over and started snoring gently.

Slowly I stood up from where I had slid down against the wall.

"Sleep well, my brother." I whispered as I gently closed the door, unknowingly repeating the words Arthur had uttered to me earlier that same day.

As I stood on the landing outside I slowly blew out a deep breath. As far as I knew, he had never told anyone that before, and I wasn't even entirely sure that Gwaine hadn't been sober when he had told me. The thought made my heart swell with pleasure that he might have chosen to tell me his biggest secret, but I also knew that I would have to be wary as I broached the subject in the morning, in case he had no idea that he had told me at all.

I would need to do something spectacular to cheer him up and take his mind off of it.

* * *

"Merlin." Arthur strode up the stairs and into my rooms the next morning. I looked up from where I was sitting, reading.

"Hello, Arth…you look annoyed." I interrupted myself to inform him. He gritted his teeth.

"Merlin, it's snowing."

I hoisted a fake expression of surprise onto my face.

"Is it, Arthur?" I asked in an innocent tone. "Wow. How nice." He sighed.

"Merlin, it's June." he informed me, jaw clenched.

"Wow, I'm so glad you told me, sire, I never would have realised otherwise, thank you…" I gushed, before he cut me off.

"Merlin, it's snowing in June." he said tersely. I gulped.

"Um…no it's not?" I offered hesitantly. He looked at me sternly.

"Merlin, why is it snowing in June?" he questioned me almost dangerously.

"Um…um…" I stuttered, before blurting out "…It's all Gwaine's fault!"

Arthur sighed. "Why didn't I guess?"

He quickly turned and left my rooms without another word, and I breathed a sigh of relief as my door banged violently behind him at the bottom of the flight of stairs which preceded my rooms.

"That." I told myself "Was too close."

"It's all right." I called up the stairs to where Gwaine was hiding anxiously. "You can come out now. He's gone!"

* * *

Gwaine let out a deep breath from where we sat around my table. "Yes Merlin, I meant to tell you last night. It was intentional. I thought you deserved to know." he informed me.

"Thank you." I said, and left it at that. And of course, he understood everything I didn't say as well.

* * *

I was in Arthur's rooms an hour later.

"Come on Arthur _pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!" _I begged him, whinging as a small child would. He huffed and looked up at me irritably from where he sat at his desk, which was overflowing with paperwork.

"For the last time, Merlin, _no_! I will not come and play outside in the snow with you and Gwaine! It's beyond me why you even made it snow in June anyway!"

I looked up carefully at Arthur. "I took him back to mine last night, after you all got drunk and passed out. He told me what happened to his family." Arthur looked up at me sharply and sighed.

"I suppose too long wouldn't hurt." he grumbled, and I cheered as he grabbed his cloak and boots.

"And I still haven't forgiven you for leaving me like that last night for Gwen to find, you know. That took a hell of a lot of explaining." he told me as we disappeared down the corridor, going out into the cold to find Gwaine waiting for us. As I knew he always would.

The three of us would always look out and wait for each other.

* * *

**AN - HA! NO CLIFFE! see, i can be nice!**

**what did you think about the story of gwaine's family? i've had it planned out for ages, and dropped hints alredy, but it just seemed to fit in here, so i put it in.**

**now, i have a scene planned in my head for the three of them messing around in the snow. do you want it as a companion one shot or as part of the next chapter? please let me know!**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS! (again!)**

**-APP**

**oh, and next chap will be up whenever i can find time. probably on a thursday though. but it deffinatly wont be this thursday!**


	11. Immaturity and Drunken-ness

**AN - happy new year you lovely lovely people! hope you all had a fantastic christmas and ate far too much :D**

**um, i dont want to make this sound accusing or anything, because it was probably because you were all on holiday or busy or something, but i only had two reviewers, **Linwe Ferland** and **SpanaHana**, which honestly kinda disopointed me a bit guys, since i'd made thw chapter extra long and taken time to post it for you all on christmas day, so i really just wanted to check that it wasnt just because it was a horrible rubbish chapter :( However, thank you so much to the two of you who did review. this chapter is dedicated to you two.**

**on that note, this chapter is alot more relaxed and carefree, and sometimes the characters could be concidered ooc, although the reason for that is explained. this is to make up for some of the more anxty stuff that i know will be in later chapters.**

**one final thing, and PLEASE READ THIS!  
there is a poll on my profile relating to this story. PLEASE GO AND VOTE ON IT. it regards a very big part of the plot of the story, and i need to know what to do with this soon, so i can write it in, so it wont be up for long, probably only two weeks, depending on how many people vote, so please go and vote so i know what to do! (btw, this note will be at the top and bottom of the chapter, as i'm not sure that everyone actully reads both :D)**

**Line - Merlin, put the water down, we need you to be drunk! - EragonandMurtagh**

**disclaimer - see ch1**

* * *

_Merlin_

"Come on, then." said Arthur, huffing, and stamping his feet to keep warm. "What _exactly_ are we playing out here, then, _Mer_lin?" he asked me, half irritably. "Remember, I have a council meeting in about forty five minutes that I need to attend."

I opened my mouth to reply, but burst out laughing as a big snowball smacked into the back of his head with a loud THUMP, courtesy, of course, of Gwaine.

I stopped laughing quite abruptly, however, when another smashed into my face a minute later.

"You know," I told him casually "this means war." In response he grinned, and knelt down to where there were already some pre-made snowballs at his feet. It appeared he had done more than just stand around while waiting for me to convince Arthur to come outside with us.

Suddenly, Arthur threw one at me as well. "Hey!" I cried "That's not fair! Two on one, _and _you're both bigger than me!" I paused and looked Arthur right in the eye "Some bigger than others, sire, if you catch my meaning…"

His response was another larger, wetter, colder snowball.

"Oh yeah!?" he grinned "And what's the big bad warlock gonna do about it, hmm? Can't hander two poxy knights?"

"Poxy is right." I muttered under my breath, before my eyes flashed and a large amount of snow that had seconds previously been residing on the roof of a nearby castle turret was deposited onto Arthur's head.

As he spluttered and almost slipped over in his rush to get away from the snow shower he was having, I taunted him. "Whoops, Arthur, nearly fell over there, careful sire, wouldn't want you to get hurt. Mind you, you've got so much…ah _padding_…I expect you could probably fall down a cliff and still not get hurt. Oh well, what's the big bad king gonna do about it? Can't handle two poxy magic warlock-sorcerers?"

"I am NOT fat!" he yelled at me. He went to yell some more, however, was stopped when Gwaine threw snowballs at each of us to attract our attention.

"You know, ladies," he informed us "as much fun as it is to watch you bicker and squabble, I believe we _should_ be enforcing the motto here of _less talking_ and _more snow throwing._ As amusing as it was to watch your little cat fight."

I looked at Arthur carefully, and saw that he'd had almost exactly the same idea as me.

"Get him."

We both launched ourselves at him, shoving snow down is neck, and for the next half-hour the three of us had fun playing rough-and-tumble in the snow.

Unfortunately, however, we were interrupted by the noise of someone important-sounding clearing their throat from behind us. As Arthur and Gwaine were currently laying on the ground, panting after their last round of play-fighting, I immediately turned around to see who it was.

"Ah." That was the only noise I could make for a minute. "Oh dear."

Arthur stood up quickly when he heard me, quickly followed by Gwaine. "Um…?" he squeaked.

In front of us stood the _entire_ council. We stood there for a minute, before, without looking away from them and their formidable, disapproving stares, a spoke to Arthur out of the corner of my mouth.

"Arthur?" I asked him.

"Yes Merlin?"

"Two things. One, do you remember that council meeting you were on about earlier?"

"Yes Merlin."

"I think you missed it."

"Me too, Merlin."

There was a Pause

"What was the other thing, Merlin?" Gwaine hissed from the other side of where I stood.

"You remember that I rescued you all from the tavern last night?"

"Yes Merlin."

"I didn't _exactly_ ask permission from Gaius to leave first."

"So that would be why…?"

"Yes Arthur, that would be why Gaius is looking at us like that." For standing at the front of the group before us, looking more formidable and terrifying than the rest of the congregation of council members stood behind him put together, stood Camelot's court physician in all his glory.

"Um…um…" Gwaine panicked. "Run away!"

Immediately, the three of us turned around and sprinted from the courtyard where we had been fighting in the snow.

As we made our way through the lower town away from the castle, we encountered the rest of the group I'd had to rescue last night, as well as Gwen.

"No questions!" yelled Arthur as we approached them. "Just run!"

Immediately, they did as we asked, and together, the seven of us raced through the town and out of the gates of Camelot, providing a very strange special for any who may have been watching.

Once we were outside the gates, the three wet, sodden, and now very cold ones of our party (Gwaine, Arthur, and I) threw ourselves behind trees where we couldn't be seen by those entering the woods from Camelot. The other four just stared at us. Finally, Gwen spoke, asking the question that appeared to be on the faces of all of the other knights in the clearing.

"What _are_ you two doing?"

"Hiding." said Arthur, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I wondered a minute about why the two of them were acting as they were, before realising something and groaning loudly.

"Ah." I said, coming sheepishly out from behind my tree. "Arthur come here." I instructed. "You too, Gwaine." They didn't move and I sighed. "I promise they wont find us."

Reluctantly, the two came over to me. I briefly scanned my magic through them. "Oh dear."

"What!" said Gwen urgently, coming to stand beside me. I ran my hand over the back of my head sheepishly.

"Um, well, you see, the thing is…"

"Spit it out, Merlin." grinned Percival from behind her. I took a deep breath.

"Okay, so you know the state you found Arthur in this morning?" I asked Gwen. She nodded. "Okay, well, basically, this lot," I gestured to the knights scattered around the clearing "All went out and got smashed last night. And as I didn't, I got cleanup duty, and may have used magic to clear the hangovers I knew they'd have in the morning. To be honest, I wondered why no-one realised that they hadn't had one. But anyway, since Percival took Elyan and Leon home, I gave them a normal shot of magic, which was okay, however, I took Gwaine and Arthur home myself, and Gwaine frustrated me so much that I must have…er, overdone their shot of magic, so basically, they're a lot more…um, relaxed and childlike than they would normally be, and, um…" I quailed under the look that Gwen was giving me.

Elyan called over his shoulder "She giving you 'the stare' Merlin?" I nodded frantically and he grinned some more "Then I'm staying out of it."

Just then, Leon butted it, which I was thankful for. "What _exactly_ were we running from, Merlin?" he asked me, as Arthur and Gwaine appeared to have reverted to hiding behind their trees. Quickly, I explained the situation to the others standing around.

"And when will this…ah, hangover magic wear off of them?" asked Percival. I shrugged.

"No idea. As it was unintentional, then it doesn't have a proper timeframe on it. I wouldn't expect it to last longer than a few days, however." I told them.

"_Days!_" Gwen exclaimed. "What do we do with them until then!?"

"Um…" I trailed off. I had no idea. However, then Gwaine piped up.

"Merlin, let's go and visit your mum!" he exclaimed.

"Wait, what?" I asked, shocked "_No!_"

Gwaine pouted "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeease!"

Then Arthur joined in "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease, Merlin, I like your mum."

I was stunned. "It would keep them out of the way." Gwen admitted. I sighed.

"Alright, then. If you really think it would be wise. I had been meaning to go and visit her, anyway."

Behind me, Gwaine and Arthur cheered. "How much magic did I _use_?!" I muttered quietly to myself, and I heard Leon laugh. It obviously hadn't been as quiet as I'd thought.

Then I was struck with a problem, and turned to face him. "Will you come with me?" I asked him "Help me to look after them. Even with my magic, I don't know if I'd manage it on my own." I turned to face them all "You could all come. I know I'd need the help."

They all quickly agreed to come, except for Gwen, who said she needed to remain in Camelot to look after it while the rest of us, particularly Arthur, were away. She also offered to let Gaius know where we were, and I told her that if she needed to contact us at all, that Gaius would know how. Then the six of us set off into the woods towards Ealdor.

About two hours later, it was getting dark. As none of us had brought anything with us, not expecting to be going on a long journey such as this one, we decided to stop in at a tavern for the night. By now, Arthur and Gwaine had calmed a bit, if not completely, and sure enough, Gwaine knew of a friendly tavern nearby that he had yet to be barred from.

I left Arthur and Gwaine in the care of Percival and Elyan, and together, Leon and I ordered two rooms for the night, as one wouldn't fit us all in, and it seemed a bit excessive to have any more, as we would all easily fit in two rooms.

After we had eaten that night, as we were in a tavern, Gwaine decided that it would be a good idea to have some ale. I tried to caution him, not knowing how him getting drunk again would react with the magic in him, but he laughed me off, and bought a tankard for the rest of us as well.

As I sat at the table and sipped mine slowly, I was determined that this was going to be the only one I had, and that I was NOT going to get drunk.

Two more tankards later, and I was decisively tipsy, as were the rest of our company.

"Hey!" Gwaine piped up "Let's play a drinking game." We all quite enthusiastically agreed, and Gwaine explained the rules to us of Never have I ever. "Basically, we go round the circle, and you say something you haven't done, and if anyone else in the group has done it then they have to drink. You have to be truthful, and if it's unexpected, you have to give details if asked."

By now I had switched to water, having remembered my earlier resolution, but Elyan spotted me with the glass in my hand. "Merlin, put the water down, we need you to be drunk!" he exclaimed "Otherwise the game won't work!"

I reluctantly picked up my now-full tankard again. "Okay, but whatever you do, don't let me use my magic when I'm drunk." I warned them. I shuddered as I remembered the last time that had happened.

"Okay." said Gwaine "I'll start us off. Never have I ever…um…fancied a Pendragon." There was a careful silence as, slowly, I picked up my tankard and drank. There was an equal silence, as, moments later, Leon did the same, followed by Arthur."

"Okay." said Gwaine "So Arthur's obviously Gwen, Leon, the same?" he questioned. Leon nodded, before quickly adding "It was when we were children!" to try and pacify Arthur.

"Morgana." I muttered, before he could ask, and Arthur laughed from where he sat beside me. "I knew it!" he exclaimed.

"Okay, my turn." said Percival, who was sat next to Gwaine. "Never have I ever…_kissed_ a Pendragon!"

The same three of us drank again. There was a stunned silence around the table.

"The same people?" he asked gently. Arthur and Leon nodded, but I shook my head. "Gwen." I muttered, even more quietly than before. Beside me, Arthur spluttered.

"Excuse me, Merlin," he said "But me hearing must be going. I could of sworn you just said that you'd kissed Gwen."

"It was more that she kissed me." I protested "And she'd thought I was dead! It was after I took that poison for you, anyway." Neither Elyan nor Arthur looked particularly happy at the fact that I'd kissed Gwen, but Leon was next, and hastily picked up his role.

"Er…never have I ever used magic!"

I fixed him with a firm - if slightly unfocused - stare. I gestured between myself and Arthur.

"Are you trying to get us drunk?"

* * *

**AN - apologies for the abrupt ending people, but i was running out of time :D you know the drill, please read and review!**

**one final thing, and PLEASE READ THIS!  
there is a poll on my profile relating to this story. PLEASE GO AND VOTE ON IT. it regards a very big part of the plot of the story, and i need to know what to do with this soon, so i can write it in, so it wont be up for long, probably only two weeks, depending on how many people vote, so please go and vote so i know what to do! (btw, this note will be at the top and bottom of the chapter, as i'm not sure that everyone actully reads both :D)**

**-APP**


	12. Wrath, Power, and Fury

**AN - Hey guys! Ooh, ooh, exiting news (for me, at least :D) O have to choose my a-levels in two weeks, and for the first time ever, they're running a creative eriting course! How cool is that! so I'm definatly taking that :D Any idea what else I should take?**

**(If you did) Thank you for taking part in my survey. if you havent yet, i'm gonna leave it up for another week, then take in the results, but thanks to the 8 people who alreay have ;D**

**Thank you to StormQueen6711, SpanaHana, Nebriniel Peredhil, Merlinisawesome, SpangleyPony, and 1983Sarah for reviewing. You are all so awesome!**

**Enjoy! (And don't say I didnt warn you :D)**

**Line - "And then there was that time I wrestled this one guy in the tavern," Gwaine said as he continued his 'gripping' story. - Cinnimania (Guest)**

**Disclaimer - see ch1**

* * *

_Arthur_

There was a burst of laughter from the occupants of our table.

"And then there was that time I wrestled this one guy in the tavern," Gwaine said as he continued his 'gripping' story.

Suddenly, there was an outburst from Merlin.

"Oh, shaadup would you Gwaine?" he slurred "Just get on with the game already!"

There was another burst of laughter, and I grinned sappily. I knew I was drunk, but was just happy I'd managed to get Merlin drunk as well. Over the years, I'd realised that it was actually harder to do that than to find Gwaine _sober_.

Gwaine _finally_ appeared to have finished his (very boring) lengthy tale, and we were waiting for the next line. Suddenly, I realised that it was my turn, and that everyone sat around the table was staring at me, waiting for me to speak. I thought about what I could say. Most of the other good ones had been used already.

"Never have I ever...read a book from start to finish." I said eventually.

"Really, Arthur, that's despicable." Said Merlin blandly as he drained his tankard, followed by Leon, Percival, and Elyan. Surprisingly, Gwaine drank too. Everyone started at him.

"What!" he protested when he saw us all looking at him sceptically. "It was when I researched our families, when I was looking for Merlin's, and I got distracted." Merlin looked up sleepily at the sound of his name.

"Hmmm?"

"Go back to sleep, Merlin." I laughed. He nodded sleepily.

"Okay."

Leon was looking interested. "You researched our families?" he asked Gwaine curiously. "What did you find?"

At that moment there was a loud THUMP as Merlin passed out onto the table.

"That." I said to them, suddenly realising how late it was and just how drunk we all were "is a story for the morning. Come on, up to the rooms now. We want to get a good way to Ealdor tomorrow."

* * *

I groaned as I awoke the next morning with a thumping headache. Moments later, Merlin strolled into the room, whistling merrily, and I groaned. He grinned at me.

"Good _morning_ sire!" he said cheerfully, still grinning. I glared at him. He held out his hand towards me, palm first, and I suddenly I felt a lot better.

"What was that?" I asked warily.

"Anti-hangover magic."

"Anti-hangover magic?" I asked sceptically. He waved a hand at me distractedly.

"Technical term."

I stared at him. He ignored me.

"Ready to go down for breakfast, Arthur?" he asked me "Everyone else is already up."

"Even Gwaine?" I asked him, shocked.

"Even Gwaine." he confirmed, and then smiled. "I don't think it was entirely willing on his part, though." he said "Leon wanted answers." Suddenly I was wide awake.

"Let's go downstairs!" I said hurriedly. Merlin smirked at me.

"Shut up Merlin!" I yelled at him. He just smirked some more. I shook my head and started down the stairs, muttering about idiot warlocks and lousy Court Sorcerers.

* * *

_Gwaine_

By the time that Merlin had finally got Arthur downstairs, my tale was almost over.

"...and so I worked out that all of us are related, Merlin, Arthur, and I through one brother, and the rest of you through another."

There was a long silence.

"Wow." said Percival. "That really does make you sort-of-brothers, then. And you and Merlin share a surname, too!" The three of us grinned.

"And on that note," said Arthur brightly "I think it's time for breakfast. Come on I'm starved!"

"Aren't you always?" muttered Merlin, and I laughed. Sometimes, I felt, it was good to have a brother.

* * *

Soon we were off again, and as we neared Ealdor, Merlin began to point things out to us. Odd things, interesting things, and things that related to his childhood. Things that we would never have otherwise known, had he not told us of them. There was even the odd secret shortcut he pointed out to us.

I wondered how he knew so much. We were still quite a way out from Ealdor, after all. So I asked him.

"Hey Merlin? How is it you know so much about all...this?" I gestured, spreading my arms for emphasis. He grinned and shrugged.

"Magic!" he said mysteriously, and Arthur snorted.

Even though sometimes it _was _good to have a brother, sometimes it was also downright annoying.

* * *

_Arthur_

Eventually, after a day of travelling, Ealdor came into view. I saw Merlin grin as he spotted it.

Suddenly, I stopped as a thought came to me. I pulled Merlin to one side as the rest of the knights stopped for a quick rest, before the final trek tonight.

"Merlin, how much does your mum know about...everything?" I asked "I mean, obviously she knows that you have magic, but...what about everything else. And what have you told her about the...recent update in the situation?"

Merlin looked faintly guilty. I sighed.

"That means absolutely nothing at all, am I right Merlin? She knows nothing?"

Merlin nodded, still looking guilty, and I sighed again.

"In that case," I said to him "Do you want to go down on your own first, and explain a bit to her? Otherwise she might panic at seeing four knights of Camelot and the King surrounding you on her door step. She might assume..."

"...that you had caught me using magic and reacted badly." He finished, correctly interpreting what the rest of my sentence would have been. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I think it would probably be wise." He said, sounding reluctant. "I'll send you a signal – probably via Gwaine – when it's safe."

And with that, he promptly disappeared.

I sighed. "Show off!" I muttered. Gwaine came over to me, looking worried.

"Hey where's Merlin?!" he asked me, and I sighed again. Quickly, I explained the situation to him, and he nodded.

"It makes sense." He agreed, and I looked at him in shock.

"What?" he said defensively "What!"

I just laughed.

* * *

_Merlin_

I laughed as I rematerialised behind a dense clump of trees, near to the house where I had grown up, imaging the look on Arthur's face as I disappeared from in front of him.

I stopped laughing abruptly, however, when I rounded the clump of trees to see the villages of Ealdor being rounded up in the centre of village.

Immediately I was on my guard looking for enemies and potential threats, not only to myself and the villages, but also to Arthur. Instantly, I spotted the perpetrator.

"Mordred!" I hissed under my breath.

I had no idea why he was here, but I assumed that after my escape, he was trying to find me again.

Damn.

I quickly reversed back into the woods, and closed my eyes. I needed backup. Now.

* * *

_Gwaine_

I was standing next to Arthur, wondering what kind of signal exactly Merlin would give me, and more to the point, how I would get it, when suddenly i jumped about a foot into the air.

I could hear Merlin's voice _inside my head_.

I shivered. The last time I had heard Merlin like this, it had been just before he'd died, and I wasn't even sure if he was aware he'd done it or not.

However, worse than the method he had chosen to contact me by was the actual content of the message itself.

'_Gwaine!' _he thought-yelled at me _'__Get Arthur and the knights down here NOW!'_

I could tell by his tone that something bad must have happened, and i wasted no time in replying.

"How?" I asked him out loud, aware that Arthur was looking at me like I was a bit of an idiot, but ignoring him in favour of listening to what Merlin was saying.

_Grab hold of the knights, and then think of yourself standing in front of ma and repeat these words.' _He fed me a string of words, which I quickly committed to memory.

Before I could act on what he'd said, he added one final thing.

'_Gwaine, I'll try to guide you, but you'll have to do moist of the actual magic yourself, and bear in mind, this will tire you out a lot'._

I nodded, even though I knew it was silly as Merlin couldn't actually see me. Arthur looked at me oddly.

"Are you okay, Gwaine?" he asked me "You've been standing there staring into space for about five minutes now."

By now the rest of the knights were crowding around, worried, but I quickly cut through their worried voices.

"No arguments." I told them "Grab hold of me. NOW!"

Arthur wasted no time in doing so, and a moment later the rest of the knights followed.

Quickly, I dragged the words from my memory and repeated them as Merlin had told me to. Instantly, I felt an odd sensation, and then relief as we landed in a clearing in front of Merlin, before promptly passing out.

* * *

_Merlin_

I felt worried as I disconnected from my mental contact with Gwaine. I paced around the small clearing I had found not much further from the village than the clump of trees I had landed behind.

About a minute later, Gwaine and the knights popped into the clearing, and I rushed forward to catch Gwaine as he toppled over towards me. Sparing only a second to look at Arthur and gesture to him to be absolutely silent, I quickly poured my magic through Gwaine, and then woke him up.

I quickly explained the situation the knights and Arthur, all of whom then quickly became agitated, particularly Arthur, who had obviously met my mother before.

"One more thing." I added, before they could all run, yelling, out of the clearing, to try and scare off Mordred and his minions.

"The villagers...theydon'texactlyknowaboutmymagic." I told them in a rush. "So anything I do...will have to be secret. Not to mention the fact that they're actually generally _scared_ of magic, having lived on the border of Camelot, after all."

Before anyone could comment or say anything, I grabbed Gwaine.

"Gwaine, you're with me." I told the surprised knight, who quickly gained a look of understanding on his face.

"The rest of you, you're on your own." I told them. "But please," I told them "Be strategic."

With that, I grabbed Gwaine and together we both ran out of the clearing, but not before I heard Arthur snort in amusement at my comment.

'_How was it that only last night we were sat in a tavern playing never have I ever?'_ I asked myself.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a good reply.

* * *

I dragged Gwaine to where we had a better view of the centre of the village. At that moment we had the advantage, as they didn't know we were there, and I fully intended to keep that advantage for as long as I could.

From our place between two of the smaller houses in Ealdor, we could see that appeared to have separated my mother and Matthew off from the others. They didn't seem to be too interested in the others, but still kept them hostages anyway. They did appear, however, to be taunting and circling my mother and Mother, making crude comments and rude gestured. My anger intensified.

"Your mother the one separated with that man?" Gwaine whispered from beside me, obviously observing my reaction to seeing them, and I nodded tersely.

"I think," I told Gwaine tensely "that it's time that these creeps met the full wrath, power and fury of Merlin Ambrosias/Emrys."

Gwaine grinned.

"Not to forget the unexpected Dragonlord and the Once and Future King." He added, and it was my turn to grin.

"The three most important figures of magical myth." I agreed "Let's bring the legends to life, shall we?"

They would never know what had hit them.

* * *

**AN - sorry for ther cliffe! please**** review! it keeps me sane AND keeps me writing ;D**

**-APP**


	13. Bringing the Legends to Life

**AN - Hai! how you doin? now that i have that randomness out of the way, on with some other stuff.**

**1. i apologise for this chapter. i had _far_ too much fun writing it, and concequently is probably ooc. and this chapter got away from me a bit :D so sorry about that :D**

**2. i also apologise for the blatant doctor who rip off. if you dont see it, then you must be an idiot for not watching doctor who :D**

**3. yes i know that I spy wasnt invented then :D**

**4. i appear to have completly forgotten to reply to _every _review that i got for the last chapter. i think exams got in the way :( so i wont let that happen again, sorry that it did :/**

**that you anyway to everyone who _did_ review last chapter, despit my horendous lack of replies, who were SpanaHana, SpangleyPony, xXTheDragonRiderXx, Merlinisawesome, MissHarveySpecter, katieandted97, mlynch13 and 1983Sara. you are all so awesome for putting up with me and my non-repliance to amazing reviews *hugz!***

**line - "Do I want to know what the two of you were doing?"**

**"No!" from me! this is one of my lines! yay!**

**Disclaimer - see ch1**

**Oh, and one naughty word, but once again, i feel it's justified :D**

* * *

_Merlin_

I started to slip out of our hiding place, to try and get closer, when I was startled by a voice from behind me.

"Merlin, you idiot, what are you doing?!"

I jumped violently and nearly gave away our position, knocking a large empty barrel over, but I quickly caught it with magic.

"Arthur!" I hissed at him "What are you doing here?!"

"What do you think?" he asked me as if it was the most obvious things in the world, which it might have been, I admitted reluctantly to myself, but that didn't stop me from being angry for putting himself in more danger. However, before I could lay into him completely, he interrupted me.

"Do I want to know what the two of you were doing?" he whispered warily.

"No!" I replied instantly, but before I could continue, I was interrupted again, this time by Gwaine. I turned to face him, furious, but he hissed at me.

"Keep it down!"

I instantly realized how loud I had unwillingly allowed my voice to rise, and looked anxiously over towards the guards to check that they hadn't heard anything. Luckily, however, for now at least, our presence appeared to have remained unnoticed.

I looked over towards Arthur. "Where are they?" I asked him. He immediately understood who I meant, and replied.

"Scattered around the village, hiding, and waiting for my signal."

"Good." I told him firmly. "There's been a change of plan. Forget what I said about me not telling the villagers about my magic."

"Wha…!" Arthur started to interrupt, but I quickly shut him up.

"They have my mother."

As we had been sat there waiting for something to happen and talking to each other in – mostly – hushed whispers, I had come up with a rough plan. Quickly, I explained it to them. Gwaine looked thrilled at the thought of his role in the plan, but Arthur looked at me as if I had gone completely insane.

"Merlin!" he exclaimed quietly "Are you absolutely…"

"Mad?" I finished for him. "Almost defiantly. Now, come on! We need to get into position!"

* * *

The plan was genius, even if I did say so myself.

I rushed off quickly with Arthur to get into position, him creeping into the shadows closest to the group at the centre of the village, me a little higher with slightly more of a vantage point.

Yes, I was on a roof.

I was balancing precariously with the help of my magic, lying flat so that hopefully the guards and Mordred wouldn't see me.

Nether the lass, I saw Percival gasp silently as we both saw each other at the same time, and he took note of my current location. Quickly, I pressed a finger to my lips, and he nodded tightly to show he understood my silent gesture, before turning back to watch what was going on in the centre of the village.

The guards were once again throwing their weight around slightly, leering and taunting at my mother and Matthew. Suddenly, Gwaine threw himself out of the shadows he was hiding in, and started staggering around like a drunk. I saw the look of surprise in my mother's face as she knew she didn't recognize him, before she gained a light of realization in her eyes, and knew that she had understood – partially, at least – what was going on. I felt proud. Even when tied up and being taunted by idiots, my mother was a smart woman.

One of the guards walked up to Gwaine and caught his arm. "'ere Thomas." He said to one of the other guards "I thought you said you'd got em all"

"Thought I 'ad." His fellow guard, who I realized must have been Thomas, replied. "Sorry 'bout that. 'e must 'ave bin 'iding. I'll just put 'im with the others."

This, of course, was exactly what we had wanted to happen, so that when the time came, and the guards were distracted, Gwaine would be able to help the villagers to escape, with the help of Arthur.

That left me as the distraction. And since they had really made me angry by now, both with the treatment of not only my mother but also my village – well, whatever happened would _not_ be pretty, I knew that for sure.

"Hello!" I said brightly, when I saw that both Gwaine and Arthur were in position, standing up from where I lay on the roof, and immediately attracting the attention of all of the guards in the area. I saw Percival shoot me a concerned look from where he was hidden, but I ignored it.

"Hello!" I said again, just as brightly, and this time it was my mother who sent me the worried look.

"Is everybody listening?" I called out across the village. "They better be. Because I AM _SPEAKING_!"

I swore I could almost hear Gwaine roll his eyes and Arthur mutter "Drama queen!", but I continued, ignoring them.

"YES!" I continued" I'm talking! But who the hell even am I anyway?!" I asked, really getting in to the spirit of things. Below, heard Elyan mutter to Percival "Is he okay?", and receive the reply almost immediately of "No, he's finally lost it.", but I just grinned at hearing this.

"Yes, who the hell am I anyway?" I almost whispered, but making sure that everyone could still hear me. Then my voice grew terrifying and angry, but still also quite calm.

"I'll tell you who I am. I am Merlin Ambrosias, son of Balinor Ambrosias and Hunith of Ealdor, which is here, by the way, for those of you who were unaware. I am a Dragonlord and the one the druids call Emrys. But finally, and possibly most importantly of all, I am the brother of both the Once and Future King and the Unexpected Dragonlord. And right now..." I trailed off and fixed each and every one of the guards in the centre of the village with a hard stare.

"Right now." I said, even softer than before "I am _very_ pissed off."

I saw several of the guards gulp nervously as they stared up at me, clearly terrified, before one of them had the courage to call out, if somewhat shakily "So what? Why should we be scared of someone and his brothers with stupid names? Where are they, anyway, these brothers of yours? At the moment, there's only one of you, but yet there's thirty of us!" At this the man began to laugh, and soon a couple of his friends joined in, if somewhat reluctantly, before I spoke again, and their laughter died almost instantly as they took notice of what I was saying.

"Say." I said with forced casualness "Do you recognize that guy behind you?" I asked, gesturing at Leon from where I was standing, who quickly got the message and stood up from his hiding place. The guards swiveled as one to look at him, and he grinned feral.

"Or him?" I said, pointing over at Elyan, who did the same as they turned to look at him instead.

"Or maybe even him?" I said, gesturing to Percival. I saw many more of the guards gulp as one as they saw his giant form emerge from behind an old cart. It would have been almost funny if the moment hadn't been so tense.

"So, now that's four of us against thirty of you. Still not very good odds. So, now, let's play a game! I spy with my little eye, something beginning with…Ah! The Once and Future King! Stand up, Arthur!" I yelled gleefully. I was having _far_ too much fun with this.

Arthur stood up, looking amused, and several of the guards stared in shock to see the king of Camelot hiding behind a barrel in a peasant's village in a neighboring kingdom.

"So that's one brother. You alright, Arthur?" I called down to him, grinning. He couldn't help grinning back.

"Never better, Merlin."

"Well, that's good. Now, for brother number two…Gwaine! Stand up! Show us where you're hiding!"

Gwaine, too, stood up shocking both the peasants and the guards with his change from supposed drunk only minutes earlier.

"So that's six of us against thirty of you." I said, and the knights looked worried about where I was going to go with this, particularly as thay knew that there actually was no-one left hidden in the village. Not that I was going to tell the guards that.

"So, Arthur." I called down to him again. "How many soldiers would you day there were in Camelot's army?" I asked grinning. He immediately grasped what I was up to and grinned back.

"Ooh, a couple of thousand at least, Merlin."

"And how far away would you say they were by now, Arthur?"

"Probably less than half a day at most, Merlin."

"Thank you, Arthur! Now," I spoke to the guards again. "At least two thousand and six of us against thirty of you. That sounds slightly better, doesn't it!? Now, where's Mordred?" I narrowed my eyes, and several of the guards looked shocked.

"I'm right here." Came a voice from behind me.

I turned in shock to see Mordred stood behind me on the roof. "Ah." I said "Hello, Mordred."

"How did you know I was here?" he asked me, our eyes looked on each others. Neither of us wanted to be the first to give in.

"I recognized your magical signature." I explained, and he sneered.

"Of course."

We seemed to have reached a stalemate, with neither of backing down, everyone in the courtyard watching us, silent. I knew I would have to be the one to break it, but I wasn't willing to give in.

Subtly, I used my magic to tap Mordred on the shoulder. He span around, thinking there was someone else on the roof behind him, and I used that distraction to make my escape.

Quickly, I used my magic to transport me across the village to another roof not too far away. Half the people watching cried in shock as I disappeared, and then sighed with relief as their gaze found me again. Though this had not been part of my plan, I knew how I could possibly work this to my advantage.

Mordred's eyes narrowed as he caught sight of my new vantage point, and quickly retaliated, so we were both on the same roof again. And thus, the greatest and most dangerous game of chase in the history of Ealdor began.

I'm sure several people damaged their necks as they swiveled them repeatedly from side to side, watching as we transported ourselves from one roof to another to another.

Finally, I got bored of our little game, knowing that Mordred would never give in, and also knowing that we were both starting to tire from using so much magic, him more so than me.

On my next transportation, I pretended to land badly, and started to fall off the roof. I heard several people, including Arthur and Gwaine, cry out as I slipped, and I watched Mordred's triumphant face as he landed on the same roof I had just 'fallen' off of.

However, before I hit the ground, I cast the spell to transport myself, and then landed on the roof behind where Mordred was standing. Then, as he peered over the edge of the roof to see where I had fallen to, I gave him a hard shove and he toppled off the roof, following my movements from only moments earlier.

As he twisted in midair to look up at where I stood, triumphant, on the roof, he snarled a spell and disappeared, as I had, however he didn't land on the roof I was on, or indeed any other roof. He had retreated, hopefully to someplace far away where I wouldn't hear from him for a while.

I turned back to face our 'audience', who had watched our display, openmouthed, and nearly collapsed from exhaustion then and there. However, I found the energy to say confidently "The show is now over. Thank you _very_ much for watching. Goodnight!"

* * *

**AN - well? was it worth the wait? did you spot the doctor who reference? i told you it was obvious, but it was begging to be done :D**

**was merlin too ooc? should i change it, or just come up with an excuse, like i did last time :D**

_ALSO, PLEASE READ THIS NOTE!_

**I want to know if there is anything general that you want me to include in my story. obviously i have a pairing for merlin (freya won, by the way. do you want me to bring her back to life, or just have merlin mourn her at the lake? please tell me :D), but if you have any other GENERAL things you would like to see in the story i.e. specific character whumph, more of a certin character, a type of weather (snow, thunderstorms etc) or anything like taht, then please review and let me know! please! i love a challenge! the trickier the better! however, nothing too specific please eg gwainr and percival get married, have three kids, and live happily ever after. i love story ideas, but nothing too detailed, please!**

**thanks for reading!**

**-APP**


	14. The Confrontations of a Warlock

**an - hello! first of all, thank you for all of your wonderful suggestions for what kind of things i can put into my story! all will be used (hopefully!) at one point or another.**

**secondly...does anyone _actually_ ever read these authors notes? or do i just write them for no reason? :D**

**thank you to Rivka16, SpanaHana, SpangleyPony, 1983Sarah, Nebrineil Peredhil, camoc (Guest), Moon Fox, xXTheDragonRiderXx, and The-Bowtie-And-The-Fez for reviewing! yay! people like my story! :D**

**Disclaimer - see ch1 (again!)**

**Line - I still miss her - and it's another one of mine, i'm afraid! sorry!**

* * *

_Merlin_

Slowly, I clambered down from the roof, ignoring the looks of shock form the villagers at the show I had just put on. I hardly noticed the knight rounding up the remaining guards who hadn't yet fled into the forest as I stumbled straight past them and towards my mother.

I stopped in front of her, swaying gently. "Oh Merlin." She sighed "What are you going to do with you?" she asked gently. I shrugged.

Arthur came up behind me, and I saw my mother tense. I was confused, until I remembered one of the key reasons that I had actually come down to the village on my own for.

"No…" I said weakly, before my energy vanished and I crumpled. Luckily, Arthur caught me. He sighed

"It's becoming a bit of a habit, this, isn't it, Merlin? He asked me, and I grinned faintly up at him.

"Srry, rthr." I slurred, my vision fading to black, and I faintly heard his whispered reply "That's quite alright, my brother." before I was completely out of it.

* * *

_Arthur_

I sighed, and stooped to pick up Merlin's legs too, so that I was carrying him like you would a small child.

I glanced up at Hunith frightened and confused face and sighed again.

"Have you got somewhere I can put him?" I asked her gently, noticing as she flinched at my words. "Then, we need to talk."

Her face hardened, obviously, and wrongly, anticipating the worst, and she said firmly "Yes. You remember where the house is?"

Not waiting for an answer, she set off towards the outskirts of the village, heading in the same direction of the place we had landed earlier. With a start, I realized that Merlin must have landed just outside his mother's house, obviously hoping to surprise her. Well, he'd done that alright.

Just before I left the centre, I realized something. The crowd behind us were getting restless. I remembered Merlin's words from before, about the village being rather un-supportive of magic. With Merlin still in my arms, I turned to face the knights.

"Leon!" I called "You and the others are on crowd control. Keep them_ away from the house! _Gwaine, you're with us_._"Leon nodded to show he had understood, and Gwaine ran over to us.

"Exhaustion again?" he asked, and I nodded. He sighed.

"Come and help me explain to his mother?" I asked, and he nodded, quickly setting off after Hunith, who had stopped to wait for us.

We entered her house, which wasn't too different to how I remembered it. Gently, I set Merlin down on the bed, where he stirred slightly and opened his eyes.

"Thanks." he whispered quietly, and I grinned "No problem, Merlin." Gwaine came forward.

"Merlin." he said firmly "You have _got_ to teach me that teleportation trick!" Merlin smiled.

"Of course. But not for a while, and _definatly_ not until we're back in Camelot."

"Of course!" Gwaine nodded enthusiastically. I groaned.

"Oh God. You two are going to tease me constantly with this trick, aren't you?"

They both cracked identical grins.

Merlin's, however, faded slightly as he caught sight of his mother standing behind us, by now looking more curious than frightened. He sighed.

"Mother." he said "We need to talk." I got up to leave, thinking he would want to talk to his mother privately, but he grabbed my sleeve and pulled me back down again.

"Oh no." he said "You two are staying right here. You're both as much a part of this as I am."

So we talked. Or rather, it was mostly Merlin talking, in the beginning.

And he explained everything, or so it seemed.

He talked about Balinor, about Freya, about the dragon, about Morgana and the battle, about his revelation to us, his transference of magic to Gwaine, and most of all, the new-found relationship as brothers that the three of us had. He didn't, however, as we had promised, talk about the prophecy. No point in giving Hunith more of a reason to worry, I thought to myself, privatly agreeing with his decision not to mention it to her.

He became the most upset when he spoke about Freya.

"I still miss her!" he gasped, and Hunith pulled him in gently for a hug. I was stunned. I hadn't realized that he still missed her quite so much. Then I thought about what would happen to me if I ever lost Gwen, and I instantly understood.

By the time the three of us had finished speaking, with Gwaine and I filling in any details that Merlin had missed, it was very dark outside.

"So you found Balinor." said Hunith eventually. "I'd always hoped you would, that he would come back to me, to us." She began to cry, and this time it's was Merlin's turn to pull her into a hug. I got up again to leave, and this time, Merlin didn't stop me.

Gwaine and I left the house and travelled back towards the centre of the village. Despite it being quite dark, when we got there it was to find most of the villagers still there, and a man I remembered to be Matthew arguing furiously with Leon, who was beginning to look rather tired. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone. Immediately, I started in that direction to try and help, with Gwaine still following behind. When I reached them, Leon looked relieved.

"Sire, Sir Gwaine." He greeted us. I was confused about his use of our titles, until I realized that he was probably going for the intimidation factor in talking to Matthew.

"Sir Leon." I replied in turn, before turning to the aggravated man standing next-to him. "What seems to be the problem, Matthew?" I asked him. He seemed startled that I had remembered his name, but quickly recovered.

"King Arthur. What have you done about the _sorcerer_?" he spat the last word with the mass amount of contempt possible, and I cringed slightly, realizing sadly that my reaction would have been something similar less than only half a year earlier. I quickly regained my composure, and drew myself up fully.

"Merlin is a highly valued and very much appreciated member of the Court of Camelot." My voice rang out across the centre, drawing the attention of all those situated within it, in a very similar way to how Merlin's had earlier.

"He is very skilled with his craft and has never harmed anyone with his magic except for those who intended harm themselves for Camelot. He is a close friend of my knights, as well as being considered a brother by both myself and Sir Gwaine. You would do well not to insult him in front of any of those here."

There was a slight pause as the rest of aforementioned knights came and stood behind us in a slightly intimidating formation. There was a pause, before we were joined by two more figures, who drew level with Gwaine and I. Hunith then stepped back slightly, but still firmly showed her support for us, while Merlin remained where he was.

"Thank you, Arthur." He said, facing me, and throwing appreciative glances at the knights.

"Should you be walking around already?" I asked him, concerned, but he waved it off.

"I'm fine. Actually, I'm getting used to it. Falling over all of the time. It doesnt have as much of an impact on my body as it did before." he grinned. "No, since I wasn't injured – this time, at least, - I don't actually need as long to recover. I would have been fine a couple of hours ago."

"Fine." I said, before continuing firmly in a slightly threatening tone "But if you show the slightest sign of _not_ being fine, the moment we get back to Camelot, I'll drag you straight to Gaius!"

"Yes, sire!" he saluted me mockingly.

We looked at each other seriously for a moment, before we both burst out laughing.

Looking up, we were unsurprised to see the villagers staring at us in half shock and half anger. I shared a glance with Merlin, before he stepped forwards to address them.

"I know you probably all hate me right now." He began, and I flinched at his words.

"I'm very sorry for that. But there's nothing I can do to convince, so I won't even try. If you want me dead, there's really nothing I'm going to be able to do about it. I can't help my gift, it wasn't something I chose, and if you can't deal with that, then it's not my problem." He shrugged and stepped back. I stared at him, shocked.

"You're not even going to _try_ and convince them?" I asked him. He shrugged again.

"Why should I? It's not like they'll believe me anyway, no matter what I say. You forget, I grew up around these people, Arthur. I know what they're like. So no, I'm not going to waste my breath trying to convince them of something that isn't possible." He folded his arms sharply across his chest. I saw several of the villagers flinch at his harsh words.

Then someone stepped forwards, away from the rest of the villagers. There was a slight murmur from the crowd, before you spoke to Merlin.

"Did he know?" she asked "Did he…did Will know?" she asked him. I saw Merlin's face soften.

"Yes." he replied softly "Yes, he did. And he accepted me for who I was."

"Then that's enough for me." The woman said, and stepped forward to embrace Merlin. After a minute, the woman stepped away, and joined Hunith in out group. I looked enquiringly at Merlin.

"Will's mother." he explained. I nodded, and turned to face the woman.

"Thank you." I told her "Your son saved my life. He took an arrow for me. So thank you. I'm just sorry you had to lose your son." The woman nodded, obviously trying not to cry. I turned back to face Merlin.

"It's quite late. What are we doing about…?" I trailed off, but I could tell that Merlin had understood. He turned to face his mother and Will's.

Is there any chance..?" he asked, and the two women nodded. I blinked. Was the whole village telepathic too each other's thoughts? Obviously I knew that Merlin was, but the rest…

"We should have room for three each, shouldn't we?" Hunith asked Will's mother, who nodded.

"Of course."

It was quickly decided that Merlin, Gwaine, and myself would go to Hunith's, rather obviously in the case of Merlin, and that Elyan, Leon, and Percival would go with Will's mother. Leon looked rather anxious about leaving the three of us alone; before Merlin reminded him "I can look after him, Leon. Don't worry, I wont let anything happen to him. And anyway, if anything _does_ happen, I'll contact you immediately with my mind." Leon blushed and nodded sheepishly, before heading off after the rest of his sleeping-group.

I sighed and did likewise, heading off after mine. By the time I caught up, we were almost back at the house. Just before we entered, Merlin pulled me aside, letting Gwaine enter the house in front of us.

"Thank you, Arthur, for what you said back there." He said sincerely.

"You are most welcome, my brother." I replied, and we both grinned. Gwaine stuck his head back out of the door.

"As emotional is this is for you two lovebirds," he began, grinning "do you think you could hurry up and get in here? It is getting quite late, you know." He pulled his head back in time to avoid both my tirade and the apple that Merlin had conjured and thrown at him.

I glared. "I'll make him pay for that." I muttered under my breath.

"We both will." Merlin agreed, and we grinned at each other again.

Gwaine was in for a serious pranking the next day.

* * *

**AN - woohoo! more pranking next week! and it's gwaine's turn! yay!**

**quick question - are you okay with me hurting merlin so much? it's not really intentional, it just sort of...happens. so do you like it, or would you rather there was less? review and let me know please!**

**also, to all those of you who are single out there (like me!) and haven't really heard this today - happy valentines day to you 3**

**-APP**


	15. The Revenge of the King and his Warlock

**AN - as promised, a chapter of pranks this week :D one that actully tried to overrun, so be warned - sort-of cliff hanger! to make upi for it, I'll try to post the next chapter sooner - if i can. probably not before monday, though, as i have an exam :(**

**so yeah...enjoy! **

**...why does this seem shorter than usual? I have no idea! i must have missed something :P**

**disclaimer - see ch1 (as always - should i really be more original with this? what do you think, dear readers?)**

**Line - Merlin, why is there a horse in my room? - Potterhead from Potterland (thank you for that line! you allowed me to have _so _much fun with this chapter :D)**

* * *

_Merlin_

"Have you got it?" Arthur hissed at me, as I rounded the corner of me mother's house. I shot him a look.

"Right." he muttered "Of course you have." I grinned.

"Have you got _your_ bit?" I questioned him teasingly in return, and he nodded, echoing my grin reluctantly.

"Right." I began again, trying to be serious "Is Leon in position?"

"Isn't he always?" Arthur, joked, and I nearly burst out laughing. That had lasted long.

"Quiet!" Arthur hissed at me "He might wake up!" I calmed down a bit, and took a deep breath in preparation for what we were about to do.

"Right." I asked him for what I hoped would be the last time tonight. "Ready?"

He grinned.

* * *

It had been a couple of days since he had made his remark, but there was no way we were going to let it go without retaliation.

It was good we had waited too. I decided, and ever since he had been tense as if expecting us to do something to him. We, of course, had acted as if nothing was wrong. We had bided our time carefully, and now we would have our revenge.

We had decided that it needed to be bigger and better than what Gwaine and I had done to Arthur months earlier. Much bigger.

So, with the help of the (at first) reluctant Leon, plans had taken shape, either while Gwaine was asleep, or while he was off helping in the village. Surprisingly, my mother had been a big help with distracting him.

And now, our plan would be put into action.

Carefully we sneaked into his room, Arthur pulling his 'package' behind him. Slowly, so as not to make any noise at all that could wake the sleeping knight, he tied it to a wooden beam, while I sneaked across to him and slid something small into his ear. I had enchanted earlier it so that he wouldn't notice that it was there, or fall out. I just hoped that it would be enough. Suddenly, the object of our pranking began to stir, so we quickly left again. As we did so, we were grinning with success.

Phase one was complete. As small as it seemed for now.

* * *

Phase two was mostly up to Leon, so we quickly headed over to where he was waiting. We were slightly surprised, however, to find the rest of the knights waiting with him. Leon had, it seemed, found some more participants for the pranking. I grinned. This was excellent. It just kept getting bigger and bigger. And, in this case, at least, the bigger this prank was, the better the effects would be.

I quickly explained exactly what it was I wanted each of them to do, and they grinned, before heading off to do so. I would help them with their bits that needed magic doing to them in a moment, I decided. For now, we needed to help Leon.

Leon had taken his inspiration for what he was about to do from my actions a few days earlier. Slowly, when he signalled that he was ready, I carefully levitated him onto the roof, where he cautiously lay down, testing out the footholds I had made for him. He grinned, and with a last flash of my eyes, phase two was complete.

* * *

After a small argument between Arthur and I, it was decided that Elyan would be phase three.

We quickly headed to the outskirts of the village, where I knew he would be waiting. Thankfully, he had managed to find the things necessary, for this phase, and waved them excitedly at us as we came into view. I chuckled. I had discovered much to my surprise, how much like a small child the queen's brother could act sometimes. In fact, he could be almost as childish as _Gwaine_, impossible though that seemed to most.

Each Phase, we had decided, would need to be bigger than the last. Therefore, I once more used my magic, this time to dig a large hole, which Elyan quickly climbed into, burying himself up to his neck.

With one last touch, phase three was complete.

* * *

Next we headed over to Percival, who was waiting nervously in the woods nearby. As we neared, he wordlessly began climbing, ready to get into position when the time came. I conjured the last item he would need and guided it carefully up to him. It was vital he didn't drop this, so, on his signal, I attached it to his arm with magic. He gave me a thumbs up to show he was in a position where he could see what was happening clearly

Phase four was complete.

* * *

Phase five was a little trickier to set up, as we couldn't actually start it until he woke up. However, I was confident that when the time came, my magic wouldn't fail me.

Phase six, however, _could_ be set up now. Even though it was that last stage, it would take the most getting used to for the unfortunate person who had to be the main operator of this phase.

Grinning, I turned to the man standing next-to me. "Ready?" I questioned him. He glared at me.

"I cannot _believe_ I let you talk me into doing this." he grumbled. My hand, which had been raised ready to perform the spell, lowered back down to my side.

"You don't have to do it, you know." I offered him a way out of it "We could always find something else instead."

He shook his head determined. "No, I said I'd do it, and I will. I can't go back on my word now. What kind of a king would that make me? And besides," he smirked "It'll be worth it just to see his reaction."

I too smirked at the thought, before with a raised hand and a flash of my eyes, Arthur was no longer standing in front of me...not as Arthur at least.

"Brother?" I questioned him "Are you alright? Did it work?"

"Yes, it worked!" he said irritably, before he turned and ran off into the forest, where he would stay for the rest of the day, until it was time.

Phase six was complete.

All that I needed to do now was wait for Gwaine to wake up, and trust that others would be as good as they needed to be. I smirked to myself. Who was I kidding? There was no way they would be as good as I needed them to be!

They would be much better.

* * *

I had managed to fall asleep, leaning against the wall of my mother's house. As Arthur was currently...elsewhere, there was only Gwaine inside of it, and I didn't want it to be just me and him in there when he woke up, in case he saw through our plan immediately and decided it would be a good idea to attack me to say thank you.

I awoke with a start as there was a sudden yell from inside.

"Merlin, why is there a horse in my room?!"

I grinned. Let the show commence.

I stood up and stretched my arms out above my head, joints cracking, before I lazily walked into the house behind me. It took all my composure not to start laughing as I took in Gwaine's bewildered expression as he stared in shock at the horse Arthur had tied there only hours earlier.

I took a breath. This was the start of my part in the prank, and it all relied on my acting skills.

"What horse?"

Gwaine looked at me as if I was crazy.

"Merlin, are you seriously telling me that you can't see the massive four-legged creature tied to a post over there?"

I faked a look of confusion "Gwaine, are you feeling alright?"

He continued to look between me and the horse, amazed that I couldn't see it.

"Gwaine." I told him "Look at me." Slowly, he turned his head until his gaze remained fixed on me.

I closed my eyes and blew out deeply, as if to hide my worry for him, but actually to hide the flash of gold in my eyes as I returned the horse to the field that Arthur had found it in earlier.

"Gwaine." I told him firmly "There is no horse. Maybe it's the remains of a dream in your mind or something. But there Is. No. Horse! Look!"

I pointed to where the horse had previously stood, and almost burst out laughing at the confused look on his face when he realised that the horse was no longer there.

"Never mind, Gwaine." I told him, walking over and clapping a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, we need to go and help the villagers again."

Since the attack days previously, we, along with the rest of the knights, had been helping the villagers to put their village back in order after the damage wrecked by Mordred's guards.

The best result of this, by a long way, I felt, was that the villagers I had grown up with had began to see me as me again, rather than as just another 'evil sorcerer'. The level of happiness that this gave me was…indescribable.

It did help, I supposed, that most of them were in on the prank we had been planning, even if they had no wish to take part in it, as pranks on the villagers had been something that Will and I had become infamous for growing up in the village.

As we strode into the centre of the village, where the most damage had been done, I could tell that most of them were struggling to hide their smiles as Gwaine started, aghast, at Leon.

"Leon, how are you doing that?!" he gasped. I looked at him, confused. "Gwaine, he's not doing anything." I told him "Are you feeling alright?"

He started at me.

"Merlin, he's levitating." Gwaine told me bluntly.

He was, in fact, lying down on top of an invisible house, courtesy of me, or rather, my magic, but Gwaine wasn't to know that.

"Gwaine." I told him firmly, turning him to face me. This, meanwhile, was the signal Leon and I had arranged for him to quickly start climbing down from the building.

"Gwaine. Leon is not levitating. Leon does not have magic, so it is not possible for him to be doing so yet also be acting so relaxed. Leon is stood, over there, talking to the villagers. In fact, here he comes now."

We turned to see that Leon was, in fact, back on the ground and walking calmly over to us.

"You alright, Leon?" I greeted him cheerfully. I saw his lips twitch slightly as he tried not to smile too obviously.

"I'm good thanks Merlin. You?"

"I'm fine. Gwaine, however, still appears to be half asleep!"

"Oh really?" asked Leon carefully, still obviously trying not to laugh.

"Yes." I told him, straight faced. "He thought that you were levitating just now."

"Me?!" Leon did laugh now, facing Gwaine. "Why on earth would you think that?"

Gwaine muttered something unintelligible and looked down at his feet, and I winked at Leon over the top of his head.

"Come on." I told him, pulling him upright again "Let's go and find someone else to help, if you're finding that Leon's confusing you. See you later, Leon!" I waved to the knight as we left the centre of the village, heading towards where I knew that more confusion (for Gwaine, at least) awaited. I smirked; glad he couldn't see my face at the moment.

Yes, this was gonna be good.

* * *

**AN - tadaa! what did you think? and 1983Sarah - how was that? did i fix it (sort of :D)? **

**new tactic today - please review! reviews = love. love = motivation. motivation means i write faster. so please review. please? **

**i'll give you a cookie.**

**-APP**


	16. Delutions, Suprises and Shocks

**AU - I'm gonna keep this short, 'cause I know by the end of this chapter, you're all gonna hate me sooooo much :D**

**YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! :D**

**Oh, and you have no idea how close it came to me accidently writing a scene in this chapter where gwaine and merlin kissed. i had to physically stop myself. I don't even write slash fanfiction! (if you can find the scene, i will be _VERY _impressed :D)**

**disclaimer - see ch1**

**Line - What, what, what are you doing? – Guest**

* * *

_Gwaine_

I swear, I must be half asleep today.

All these mistakes I've been making.

Of _course_ Leon can't levitate. He doesn't have magic, I'd know if he did.

One of the perks of sharing magic with Merlin.

I hadn't levitated him, and I know that Merlin never would have, as he's always talking about the dangers of doing so to someone, in case you drop them.

So there was absolutely _no way_ that Leon could have been levitating in the centre of the village this morning.

And as for the horse in my room, well. That seemed just stupid, now. At the time it had looked _so completely real_ that I hadn't been able to contain my shock.

Now, I just felt rather silly about the whole thing.

Why on _earth_ would there be _any_ reason for a horse being in my room!? Especially a disappearing one!?

I took a deep breath.

I was _not_ losing my mind.

"That's the spirit!" Merlin said cheerfully from beside me, and I started, before realising that I must have accidently said my last thought out loud.

I mentally shook myself to clear my head of such depressing thoughts, and brought my mind back to the present, where Merlin and I were walking along a ramshackle street in the small village of Ealdor. Right.

And I definitely wasn't going mad.

Suddenly, a thought struck me.

"Hey, where's Arthur?" I called to Merlin.

He waved his hand vaguely "He's around."

I frowned. Merlin always knew where Arthur was _exactly_, he'd proved that on many occasions, so for him to be being so vague about his location now could only mean that he was hiding something.

Meanwhile, Merlin had stopped and turned around to face me, seemingly having realised how odd his statement had sounded.

"He's asked me not to look for him deliberately today, unless it's an emergency. I think he's trying to do something to surprise me." He rolled his eyes, and I snickered slightly.

I missed Merlin's sigh of relief as I accepted his hastily constructed story with no more questions.

* * *

"Hey, where are we actually going? I mean, what are we doing out here? Is there actually a point?" I called out to Merlin a few minutes later. We had been wandering around the outskirts of the village for a while now, with Merlin occasionally picking up or sorting out random objects. For instance, he was currently carrying an old shovel and a bucket with a hole in it, and had a coil of rope curled around one arm.

He didn't stop or turn around to reply, instead speaking over his shoulder.

"We...or rather, just me at the moment it appears, are _supposed_ to be picking up some objects the villagers left out here. Not that you appear to be doing much helping at the moment." he said pointedly, and I hastily grabbed some of the things out of Merlin's arms. He just smirked at me.

"So how many more things are you looking for?" I asked him quickly, changing the subject. He looked amused, clearly realising what it was that I was trying to do, but going along with it anyway.

"Just one." He replied "One of the villagers left a bucket out here. I thought it was the one you're carrying now but it's got a hole in it so it can't be. That was just a spare. I'll fix it later, but for now I need to find the other one."

We walked for a few more minutes in a comfortable silence, before he exclaimed "Ah! There it is!"

He strode on ahead a few paces, over to an upside down bucket, which he casually picked up, and slung the handle over his arm.

I stared for a minute, before finally managing to say something, the view in front of me was so unexpected.

"Elyan!" I exclaimed. Merlin looked around, confused.

"Where?" he asked "I don't see him."

"There!" I said, pointing to the place where Merlin had only seconds previously removed the bucket from. Sticking out of the ground was Elyan's head. Just his head, mind you. There was no other sign of him being there. Merlin looked around, confused.

"I don't see him." He said confused. He looked at me carefully, scrutinising me with his gaze.

"Are you sure you're okay, Gwaine?" he asked me, concerned. I blinked hard, pressing the palms of my hands into my eyes, before looking back up to where I could _swear_ I could see Elyan's head sticking out of the ground.

His face was grinning at me now.

I swore loudly, startling Merlin, who was still apparently trying to see what it was that I could.

"When we get back to Camelot, I'm gonna have to get Gaius to have a look at me and see if I've bumped my head or something, Merlin! I think I'm going mad, seeing things, things that you and the others can't!"

Merlin looked concerned now, and for a split second I thought I saw a flash of something that vaguely looked like guilt in his eyes, before it disappeared and I was once again believing I had imagined something else. I was seriously starting to panic now.

"Hey, it's okay Gwaine." He told me softly, meeting my eyes with mine. There was a flash of gold through his bright blue orbs, and I instantly felt myself begin to calm down and regain control. I began to feel shame creeping over me, but Merlin quickly put a stop to that.

"None of that now." He said firmly "It's a perfectly rational response."

I glanced again at the head, which was still grinning.

"Come on." He told me firmly, bending down to pick up the things I had dropped in my shock and pushing them back firmly into my arms.

"We've got everything we need to, let's go and find Matthew and ask him if he wants anything else done. If he doesn't, then we'll go down to a place I remember and relax. I think you need it."

My mind obviously agreed with him, for as we left the area, I glanced back at 'Elyan's' head one last time to see it sticking its tongue out at me in amusement. Quickly, I turned my head forward again, determined to ignore it – and everything else that was weird – that had or (I feared) would happen today.

* * *

_Merlin_

I was worried now? Had we gone too far? Were we _going_ too far?

I glanced across at Gwaine, who was walking next to me and grinning, most likely at some long-forgotten-by-the-rest-of-us memory he had just thought of. I shook my head in amusement. Clearly, his minor panic attack had disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Neither the less, I resolved to keep an eye on him, at least for the rest of the duration of the prank.

As we entered, once again, the centre of the village, I quickly spotted Leon and went over to him. I had firmly told Gwaine to _"Stay there!"_ back at the edge of the centre, and he had done so, grinning somewhat in amusement.

Quickly, I told Leon what had transpired when we had been out fulfilling stage three, but brushed aside his concerns quickly, both with my plan to get him away from the village and talk, and with how quickly he appeared to have gotten over it.

My final words were some of amusement.

"Tell Percival that it's still all systems go for stage four, just to start off easier."

He nodded in confirmation, and I set off back over to Leon, who was looking curious at what was taking so long.

"I cleared us for this afternoon." I explained to him cheerfully. "Come on. I think we need to talk."

"About?"

"Everything."

* * *

We walked for about ten minutes, until we reached a small clearing I remembered vividly from my childhood.

I used my magic to remove all of the moss and lichen from a nearby fallen log, which we then sat down on.

We sat in silence for about ten minutes before Gwaine started to talk.

"You remember, I told you about what happened to them? To my family?" he asked me. I nodded. "You told me about your father. But honestly, I wasn't sure you'd remembered telling me, so I didn't mention it."

"I remembered." He sighed heavily. I wondered vaguly where he was going with this, before turning my attention back to what he was saying.

"My mother – that's a bit more difficult." He began again. "After my father...was gone, she began to see things. To hear things. And it frightened me, Merlin. I was so scared, so scared that one day, she'd think there was something there that wasn't really and fall, or that she'd forget who I was. And now, I'm doing the same."

He looked so desperate that for a moment, I regretted ever planning this prank in the first place. That fact that I'd had no idea about any of this made it no better in my mind.

"But she got through it, eventually, Merlin, and I can only hope that I'll do the same." He said, turning to face me.

I knew I had to say something now, to stop the consequences of this prank from becoming far worse than any of us could have ever imagined they could be.

"Hey, Gwaine, don't worry. It'll be fine; Arthur and I will always help you, even if you do forget who we are." I said with a grin. "It'll all be okay."

"But what if it isn't?" he asked me plaintitivly, and I once again felt a stab of guilt at his words.

"It will be." I told him. "Now come on. Let's me give you a lesson on teleportation. That was the next thing you wanted to learn, wasn't it?"

His grin was the only answer I needed.

Teaching Gwaine to teleport took longer than either of us had expected. At first, he'd seemed to have real trouble with it, but he'd soon picked it up.

Throughout the afternoon, I'd also been seeing signs that phase four was well underway.

I'd given Percival a device that would transmit anything he said into it directly into an undetectable ear piece that I'd planted in Gwaine's ear. Frequently throughout the lesson I'd seen him shaking his head as if trying to clear it, or looking around as if he was trying to catch someone standing behind him, talking to him.

Eventually, I decided that phase four had gone on for long enough, and sent Percival a telepathic message letting him to know to stop. The relief on Gwaine's face when he realised that he wasn't 'hearing voices' any more was clearly visible on his face.

By the time Gwaine had really got the hang of teleportation properly, it was getting dark.

"Time to go back now, d'you reckon?" I asked him casually, and he grinned, before going through the motions I'd taught him and disappearing in a small puff of air. I grinned and followed him. I knew where he would land.

I was right in my assumption.

I landed outside the small village Tavern, and went inside to find Gwaine already at the bar ordering. Shaking my head, I went over and joined the others, minus Arthur, of course, at the table they had chosen.

Sitting down, I gave Leon no indication about anything that had happened earlier than a nod and a small grin. He grinned back, and the other knights looked visibly relieved. I realised that he and Elyan must have told them what had happened earlier, and were all relieved that he was relatively okay. Okay for Gwaine, that was.

As he sat down and handed us each a pint, I picked up mine and grinned into it, using the tankard to hide that flash of gold in my eyes and I turned the ale in his to water. I nearly laughed out loud at the look of shock and surprise on his face as he realised that what he was drinking was no longer ale.

Again and again I played this trick, for so long, in fact, that I was surprised that he wasn't beginning to get suspicious.

Eventually, I grew bored and stopped, and Gwaine was clearly once again shocked when this time he found that he _was_ drinking ale instead of water. So surprised, in fact, that he spat it out all over the person sitting opposite him, witch unfortunately just so happened to be me.

I was not impressed.

As Gwaine burst out laughing at my expression as I used my magic to dry myself off, and I saw the others struggling to hide their smiles, I knew that Arthur and I had made the right decision not to tell anyone what was happening for phase seven of the prank.

A phase that was just about to commence.

"_Now, Arthur!"_ I told him telepathically, and my response was a small jack-russel terrier that came rushing through the door.

"Hello, Arthur." I said to it calmly, as if I wasn't talking to an animal that wasn't wildly known for being able to talk. The others looked at me as if I was going mad. That was, until the dog spoke back in his voice.

"Hi, Merlin. Sorry I haven't been around much today, I've been busy."

"That's fine, Arthur." I told him "Here, have a seat."

The dog jumped up onto the seat beside me, and I saw grins beginning to unfurl on some of the other knights faces. I knew, from the looks on some of them, that we weren't going to be able to keep this going for much longer, but I was determined to make it last as long as possible.

Gwaine, however, was beginning to go pale. "What, what, what are you doing?" he eventually managed to stammer out, and I hoisted a fake look of surprise onto my face.

"Why, I'm talking to Arthur of course!"

This was too much for Elyan, who burst out laughing, quickly followed by Percival and Leon, and then me. Gwaine was left, in confusion, at a table with three hysterical knights, one laughing warlock, a dog, and him sitting around it.

When I eventually regained enough sense, I cast the spell to turn Arthur back into a human. When he was again, we were once more all laughing at the look on Gwaine's face.

"So…" said Gwaine, trying to get his head around it. "So...it was all you lot? All of it? And I'm not going mad?"

The two of us stopped laughing when the three knights pointed at Arthur and I, and as we saw the look on Gwaine's face, Arthur made what I felt was a very sensible suggestion.

"Run?"

"Run."

We legged it out of the tavern and into the woods, with him close on our heels.

"Split up!" I yelled at Arthur, and before he had a chance to respond diverted my direction away from his. I cursed as I realised that Gwaine had chosen to follow me instead of him.

I sped up, travelling far faster and covering far greater distances than should have been possible – for anyone.

I stopped in shock as I reached a very familiar setting. One with a completely unexpected character. I dashed forward to catch the figure as they collapsed, their name both a question and on my lips and an exclamation of a combination surprise and shock.

I stared down at them, knowing that the shock would be clearly visible to them on my face .

"Freya?"

* * *

**AN - I'M SORRY! I TOLD YOU YOU'D HATE ME!...actully, I'm not really that sorry. I've been planing that scene for about a monthe now :D**

**please review, eb]ven if it'd just to tell me how much you hate me and/or my cliffhangers! :D**

**-APP**


	17. Disbelieving

**AN - so i'm sat here, it's nine o'clock, i'm watching sherlock (yay!) what suddenly i realise 'Damn! I haven't uploaded the chapter yet!'. So, sorry about that folks ;D**

**Also, before i forget, this chapter is dedicated to xXTheDragonRiderXx, who not only bugged me repeatedly, upon my request, to post this, but also had their birthday last week. yay! :D**

**UM...READ THIS NOW, OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE, SERIUSLY, IF YOU DON'T READ THIS AND THEN COMPLAIN, I WILL THROUGH YOU OUT OF A SIX STORY WINDOW. THROUGH THE COMPUTER. WITH MY MIND. INTO SOME CROCODILES. THAT HAVE RABIES. AND ARE POISONOUS.**

**SO THERE!**

**ANYWAY - _CHAPTER WARNING!_ this chapter...maysortofpossiblycontainsome mildslash? it's not my fault! just read the line! (or don't as it may spoil the pairing) if you don't like that kind of thing, then i'm sorry, and it was entirely unintentional, but please...get over it? and read it anyway? please? :D**

**Oh, and I'm _really_ sorry that this wasn't up earlier, but I hate german speaking exams. enough said!**

**disclaimer - see ch1**

**Line - Percival what are you doing to Gwaine? – angelblackdumbledore**

* * *

Arthur

I stumbled to a stop as I realised that I was no longer being chased, realizing that Gwaine must have chosen to chase after Merlin instead. I grinned.

"Good luck, my brother." I said into the air. I wasn't quite sure which one I was referring to.

I turned around and began a slow jog back to the village. Upon reaching the outskirts, I peered cautiously through the thinning trees and faint duskiness that came with being outside at this time of night, in case Gwaine hadn't, in fact, headed off after Merlin, but had instead doubled back and was now lying in wait for us. I grinned again at seeing nothing but open space, and strolled out of the safe cover of the trees into the village, back towards the small villages' tavern.

As I entered I saw the heads of my knights shoot up at the noise of the door and look over to where I was standing with a grin on my face. Carefully, weaving through the half-drunk tavern patrons, I made my way over to them.

"I take it that everything went to plan?" I asked them, and their grins were all I needed to see to know the answer.

"Excellent!" I took a draft from Merlin's beer, which he had abandoned on the table as we had made our rapid escape half an hour previously.

After about another hour, and several more rounds of beer (most of which I had been coerced into paying for), with still no sign of either of my brothers, I began to worry slightly. I hoped that Gwaine wasn't being _too_ harsh on Merlin. It had only been meant as a joke, after all.

About fifteen minutes after that, I stood up, ready to go out and search for them. However, as the rest of the knights stood to join me, I sat back down with a thump as I got an unexpected shock.

'Um, Arthur?' I heard Gwaine's voice in my head 'I think we might have a bit of a problem.'

My first thought was what it could be that my idiotic brother had done now – either of them actually, as Gwaine hadn't actually specifically mentioned that it was Merlin that we might have the problem with. However, some sort of weird gut feeling told me that this time, it was.

I jumped to my feet again, ignoring the half-confused half-concerned looks from my knights, and rushed outside, to where I knew, somehow, that Gwaine would be waiting for us impatiently.

I rushed through the trees, hearing my knights stumbling along unsteadily behind me, still half inebriated from the alcohol they had been consuming all evening.

I reached the clearing where Gwaine was waiting, as I knew he would be, and drew to a stop anxiously in front of him. His expression spoke volumes.

"I can't find Merlin."

* * *

Merlin

I stroked the hair off of her face as I checked for a pulse. I sighed with relief as I felt one, strong and steady, under my shaking fingers.

Sure that she was alive; I hugged her to me gently, being careful not to crush her. I had missed her so much.

I sat there beside her for what could have been hours, I lost track of time, waiting anxiously for her to wake up, to abate my deepest fears that there was something wrong.

Eventfully, she began to stir, and I froze, not moving or making a sound. She opened her eyes and looked around, confused, before catching sight of me watching her anxiously.

"Merlin." She breathed as if she couldn't believe it, and then she repeated my name more assuredly as she realised that this was real.

"Merlin!" she struggled slightly to sit up and we embraced.

"Oh Freya." I pulled back to look at her "It's been far, far too long."

She reached out a hand to wipe away a tear that I had been unaware was slowly rolling down my cheek. I smiled at her softly.

"Please don't let this be a dream." I voiced my greatest fear. She shook her head.

"This is no dream, Merlin. I'm so proud of you."

I hugged her to me again, tears pouring down my face now, me unable to stop them flowing as I remembered all the time I had been forced to be without her, and how lonely I had been.

Then I pulled back again, being struck by a sudden thought.

"When do you have to go back? Into the lake?"

She shook her head slowly.

"I don't."

* * *

Arthur

"Where could he be, where could he have gone!?" I paced anxiously around the clearing, the knights wisely staying out of my way.

"For the last time Arthur, I don't know!" Gwaine replied impatiently "Otherwise, don't you think I'd be there looking for him?"

I ignored his snapped reply and kept pacing, thinking of all the places he could possibly be, but yet again coming up blank. Once again repeating the pattern of the last half an hour.

The same places kept running through my mind. Camelot, Ealdor, Druids, Kilgharrah…Kilgharrah!

"Gwaine!" I said suddenly, breaking the silence in the clearing and startling the others present. "Kilgharrah!"

* * *

Merlin

"How is this possible?" I asked for the umpteenth time. Freya shook her head at me again, still smiling, just as I was.

"I don't know, Merlin. I just remember the strong pull of magic, and then a voice whispering 'You can thank me properly When the Time is Right.', and then darkness until I opened my eyes and saw you sitting there next to me."

"Well I'm not complaining!" I told her, and she smiled again, even wider this time.

"I'm just glad." I continued "That you came back to me, that someone would do that…for us!"

We sat there a bit longer, before I had an idea.

"We should thank them."

* * *

We loaded the small boat we had found at the edge of the lake (where, it appeared, someone kept a constant supply. They must do, with the amount I've used over the years) with wild flowers and plants, until it was completely full.

We stepped back and linked hands, pleased with our work. Then, as an afterthought, I conjured some strawberries and added them to the pile. I felt Freya grasp my hand tighter as she realised.

"You remembered!" she breathed. I looked at her.

"Of course I did."

I only had time to wave my hand towards the boat, pushing it out and setting it a light at the same time, before she pulled me to her and we shared our second kiss on the banks of the lake which had held her prisoner for so many years.

We broke apart and grinned at each other, before turning back to the lake.

"Thank you!" I shouted out, even though I knew that the person who it was directed out would most likely not be able to hear me. "Thank you so much!"

Almost silently, like a whisper on a breeze, we nearly missed the almost silent reply.

"You're welcome."

* * *

_Arthur_

I looked skeptically at the giant winged beast on front of me.

"Are you _sure_ you can't tell us where he is?" The dragon just looked at me.

"Right." I huffed "You've already answered that."

"Several times, young king." Kilgharrah affirmed. I huffed again. Then I had an idea.

"Surely Gwaine could just order you to tell us."

Kilgharrah was shaking his head before I had even finished my sentence.

"As my Primary Dragonlord, as well as being Emrys on top of that, Merlin outranks Gwaine when it comes to orders. And as I have already told you, Merlin has asked me not to tell you, and I have chosen to respect his wishes."

I sighed. I knew that further arguments and resistance to what the old dragon was saying would be futile.

"Do not worry." he told us, he tone softening slightly. "He will be here soon."

With those parting words of mystery, he took off and flew away into the sky, spiraling out of sight among the clouds. I sighed again, before turning to Gwaine. I was met with an…_unusual_ sight, to say the least.

"Percival what are you doing to Gwaine?"

Both immediately stiffened and turned to look at me looking at them. I looked at them amused. They appeared to have been locked in some kind of a vertical wrestling match while the rest of us had been distracted by the dragon, and now both looked incredibly guilty.

"Well?" I tapped my foot on the ground a couple of times, waiting for an explanation. Percival blushed and looked at the ground, while Gwaine stared straight at me, unabashed. I grinned at the both of them, amused.

"Well honestly, it's not as if I'm going to tell you off for it!" I told them, Gwaine looked at me more carefully, before obviously making his mind up about something.

"In that case, then." He told us "You won't mind if I do…_this_!"

He grabbed Percival, quite a feat considering how much taller than him the man was, and pulled him down into a deep kiss. After a few minutes, and they were _still_ going, the knights surrounding me began to whistle and cheer at the spectacle, while I just grinned at them, unabashed. I had been wondering how long it would be.

The signs had been subtle, sure, and for a whileI'd been starting to wonder if I was imagining something where there wasn't, but here was the proof that I hadn't, and for that, I was incredibly pleased. The only disappointing thing was that Merlin hadn't been here to see it.

However, it appeared that I had spoken too soon, as out of the line of trees appeared my one and only wayward brother, laughing and whooping and cheering along with the rest of us.

Upon hearing him, the two broke off their extended kiss, both blushing a deep red. To try and spare them some embarrassment, for the moment, at least, as there was no way I was going to let them get out of it completely, I turned to Merlin, half concerned, half furious.

"Where the _hell _have you been?" I yelled at him. He grinned at me, in a far soppier way than was usual for him, and replied casually "Around." I growled at him and he just grinned at me more.

Suddenly, he turned to Elyan, who had moved forward with Leon and the two new lovebirds, and announced "You owe me five gold coins, and Leon three as well, if I remember rightly." Elyan scowled, and began to rummage in his pockets for the aforementioned coins. As he passed them out, I saw Merlin look up at Gwaine, and upon seeing his confused his expression, explained "I bet him on how long it would take you to act on your feelings. Elyan said that they didn't exist and we'd imagined the chemistry between you."

"Obviously, I was mistaken." The dark-skinned knight explained ruefully.

I just grinned harder.

"Anyway." Merlin broke the silence that had settled comfortably over us "One might think that you were competing against others with such a kiss. Care for some competition?" He grinned, while we frowned, confused, at what his mystery statement could mean.

All was revealed, however, when a small brown-haired figure ran out of the trees and into Merlin's arms, whereon he lifted her up and pulled her into a deep kiss, spinning the two of them around and around until suddenly he pulled back, and explained sheepishly "Forgot to breathe. Sorry."

The girl laughed, a gentle laugh, and I could tell just by looking at them just how deeply the two of them were in love. However, as far as I was aware, Merlin had only been gone for a couple of hours maximum, which confused me slightly.

"So." I broke the silence. "Who's the girl, Merlin?" He grinned at me.

"Unbelievably, gentlemen." He addressed all of us "It is my incredible pleasure to introduce you to Freya, the Lady of the Lake."

While the woman beside him blushed at his words, I stared stunned. How was that _possible?_"

Merlin, meanwhile, ignored our dumbfounded expressions, and spoke to Freya instead.

"Freya, this is Arthur, Elyan, Leon, Gwaine, and…"

"Percy!" the girl cried out, cutting off Merlin, who had been pointing at each of us in turn as he introduced us. His voice faded in confusion as he stared in shock at Freya, who had launched herself forward and was now hugging Percival tightly around the middle, while Percival hugged her back, just as hard.

"Freya!" The taller man sounded shocked. Merlin, meanwhile, voiced the thought in all of our minds.

"What?!"

* * *

**AN - HAHA! I BET YOU WEREN'T EXPECTING THAT! :D anyway, please review, even if it was just to tel me you hated it, or to comment on how rubbish my FIRST EVER attempt as slash was :D**

**happy easter! () - this is an egg for you all to share**

**-APP**


	18. Brothers, Mothers, and a Soaking

**AN - hello! you're very lucky - i nearly forgot about this! but, in my defense, my mum is getting married on saturday (yay! :D) so i think i'm justified :D I hope you all had a very lovely easter, and well done to all of you who guessed the relationship between percival and freya :D**

**Line - Nice hat! - mine**

**disclaimer - see ch1**

* * *

_**Arthur**_

They remained in their embrace for several minutes, even while the rest of us expressed our confusion. They looked as if they were completely lost in their own little world. It wasn't until Merlin nudged Gwaine and muttered loudly out of the corner of his mouth to him "D'you suppose we've got any reason to be worried?" with a small grin on his face to show that he didn't really believe what he was saying, that the two finally released each other. They looked over to us, blushing.

"It's not like that, honest." Percival protested, and Merlin immediately grinned at them.

"We know that, we're just curious about what it could be, unless…" he trailed off and closed his eyes, the way he had back in the cave, seemingly eternities ago, when he had searched the magic for the prophecy. I saw him vaguely nod in my direction as I remembered that, and I realised he was confirming to me that that was indeed what he was doing. A minute later his eyes snapped open again.

"No!" he gasped "No way! That's…unbelievable!"

"What?" I pressed him "What is?"

"Siblings!" he gasped "That's…completely unexpected!" He looked closer at the two, scrutinising them closely "But not entirely unbelievable, if you look close enough. The similarities are definitely there.

"How did you know that?" Percival asked him warily "Did you read our minds or something?"

"No, although that would have achieved the same effect, and probably given me less of a headache as well." he appeared to muse on the idea for a minute, before shaking his head slightly and if to clear his head of it, before addressing the man again "No, as a creature of magic, I simply asked magic itself for the answer. I can do that, you know." he added conversationally for the sake of those who obviously hadn't previously known.

"That reminds me." I told him "How did you know what I was thinking? You said you weren't reading minds, but in that case, how did you read mine?" he grinned a slightly feral grin at me.

"That one's easy." he told me "As my brother, my mind is slightly more attuned to yours, and Gwaine's too, to a slightly lesser extent, so when my mind is more open and less protected, such as when I communicate with the magic of the land, it makes it easier for thoughts to move between them than it would usually be." He grinned at me, as if to check that I'd actually absorbed the information he'd rapidly fired at me, and upon receiving my affirming nod, turned back to Percival.

"Which reminds _me_." he said firmly, looking the giant man firmly in the eye, making him gulp and recoil slightly. "If you _ever_ dare to hurt my brother in _any_ way, even he won't stop the full wrath of Emrys from landing on you, Knight of Camelot or not. Am I understood?" he asked firmly, and the huge man nodded frantically, making it abundantly clear that he couldn't understand any more if he had made the threat himself. Merlin stepped back, looking satisfied.

"Good, just wanted to clear that up, get it out of the way so that I didn't have to bring it up later if anything _were_ to happen."

Percival shook his head frantically, to firmly emphasise that that was the last thing he wanted, and I chuckled slightly at seeing the thin gangly warlock standing in front of the cowering six-foot knight with his hands on his hips and a firm expression on his face. My laughter only intensified as Freya than whacked Merlin on the arm.

"Emrys or not, you do not intimidate my brother." she told him firmly "Or I won't let you near me for a month!" Merlin gulped nervously.

"Of course, dear. Absolutely not!" he frantically assured her, and Gwaine laughed outright at the frightened look on his face. That soon changed, however, as Freya turned her glare on him.

"That being said." She looked him firmly in the eye "If you hurt _my _brother in _any_ way, then I'll castrate you. With a rusty spoon."

There was a winced of sympathy for every man in the clearing, and Merlin laughed as he put his arm around Freya.

"What a fine pair we make, hey?" He grinned at her, and she smiled softly back, before leaning up and kissing him lightly on the lips.

* * *

_Merlin_

I appeared in a swirl of dust outside my mothers house. Surprisingly, she was stood there waiting for me.

"You're going back now, aren't you?" she asked me, smiling gently, as if she already knew the answer.

"Yes." I swallowed heavily, my throat surprisingly tight. She pulled me into a fierce hug.

"I'm so proud of you." She told me "So, so proud. You've done so much, both for Camelot and for yourself."

As I nodded and tried to prevent myself from crying, it suddenly struck me how much my mother had put up with from me. I mean, it couldn't exactly have been easy being a single mother of a child which had had magic from birth, and what with me having been a trouble maker as well. And then, when I wasn't even an adult, she'd had to send me off to a city in another kingdom where my gift was punishable by treason, with no idea if she would ever see me alive again. And then, it was sometimes gaps of years between the times I could be bothered to remember to come back and see her. And who knew what rumors she would have had to have put up with from the villagers on top off all that.

With a sob, I let go of my emotions, holding onto my mother tightly. What had I ever done to deserve such a fantastic mother, who had put up with everything life had ever thrown at her, and was still stood here, smiling, as if none of it had ever happened.

As if she could tell what I was thinking, she stroked the back of my head gently, whispering soothing words.

"Hey, now, Merlin, none of that, what happened to my son, defeater of sorcerers and who knows what else from far and wide, shh, now."

With a small laugh, I straightened up, wiping my eyes with my hand as I did so.

"I'm sorry, mum." I told her "I don't know what happened."

"Emotional overload." My mother told me wisely "And that's what Mother's are for, my son." I laughed again, this time in agreement.

"Come and see me in Camelot, soon, mother?" I asked her "Please?"

"I will." She told me "Now go. Arthur'll be wondering what's taking you so long"

Wordlessly I smiled at her again, before disappearing again.

* * *

Unbeknownst to me, after I had travelled back to where Arthur and the others were waiting, My mother had quickly walked back into her house, and over to the corner, where she kept a shallow bowl of water. Wordlessly, she waved her hand over the surface of it, and watched as an image formed on it, one of me appearing next to Arthur and Gwaine, and putting me arm around Freya as we set off towards Camelot. She smiled softly at the image.

"I'm sure you'll be just fine."

* * *

That night we stopped to rest by the edge of a river, on the border of Camelot. After putting up some protective spells over the area, and supervising Gwaine lighting the campfire, I sat down next-to Freya, who smiled at me and rested her head on my shoulder. Unlike the knights surrounding us, we were happy to just sit in silence, eyes closed, enjoying each other's presence. That was, at least, until I felt water splash in my face. Immediately, I immobilised everyone in the clearing apart from Freya and myself wordlessly, in order to be able to catch my attacker.

I opened my eyes to see Gwaine frozen in the act of throwing a bucket of water in my face, while the rest of the knights were frozen in the act of laughing, the only thing moving was their eyes, which were darting around frantically, their owners panicked, not knowing what was happening. I quickly released them, all except for Gwaine, and manoeuvred myself and a slightly shocked Freya out from underneath where the rest of the water was due to land.

With the rest of the knights and Arthur laughing behind me, and Freya giggling slightly from where she stood next to me, I positioned Gwaine so that when I chose to unfreeze him, the water would land over _him_ instead, and then to add insult to injury, I made sure that the bucket would land on his head, too. Then, with a smirk, I stepped back and unfroze my unruly wayward brother.

He spluttered as he was soaked, and then let out a muffled "Ow!" as the bucket slotted neatly over his sodden hair.

"Hey, Gwaine!" I addressed him, still smirking, as the knights roared with laughter behind me "Nice hat!"

He slid the bucket off of his head and looked up at me, slightly irritated, from where he sat on the ground. "Sod off, Merlin."

I just joined in laughing with the others, and eventually, he did too.

* * *

As we arrived back in Camelot the next day, laughing and joking as usual, we were greeted by and anxious Gwen.

"I hadn't expected you to be gone for so long!" she explained.

"We came across some, ah…_trouble_ in Ealdor." Arthur explained. "But don't worry!" he added hastily, seeing her worried expression, before laughing and continuing "Merlin sorted it." There was more laughter as they remembered the game I had played with Mordred on the rooftops, and I was sure that eventfully the whole of Camelot would know what had happened, even if by then the story had been somewhat embellished in the repeated retellings.

"And who's this?" Gwen asked, catching sight of Freya, whose hand was firmly clamped onto mine. With a nod and a smile from me, she let go and dropped into a curtsy.

"Your majesty, my name is Freya, and I am the former lady of the lake." Immediately, Gwen's gaze shot up to me, and upon receiving my affirmative nod, a large smile broke out over her face.

"Oh, Merlin, that's wonderful!" she told me, having been told about what happened, before she addressed Freya.

"There is no need for you to call me 'your majesty', Freya, as I'm sure you've been told by Arthur, I'm just happy you're back, and I'm not even going to question how." Upon seeing Freya's confused look, Gwen explained "Extraordinary things just seem to follow Merlin around." The knights laughed at that, and then laughed even harder when Arthur added "That, and trouble!" I scowled, before laughing as well.

"And in any case" Gwen addressed Freya again "I needed some more help keeping this lot in line, especially these three!" She pointed to my brothers and I, and we pretended to looked shocked.

"Us!?" Gwaine asked, pretending to be affronted !I don't know _what_ you could _possibly_ mean, Gwen. We're angels!"

The group laughed as we made our way up to the castle. The last few days had been good, fantastic, even, but I was glad to be back. Even if that did mean, and I knew it, that I might be in for a serious pranking any day soon. I just hoped that I would spot it in time. After all, Gwaine had been expecting it, even if Arthur wasn't expecting his, and they had both been caught out.

No, for a while at least, I would need to keep my guard up.

* * *

**AN - look! no cliffhanger! I'm so proud! :D so, a few twists in this chapter, eh! what did you think**

**also, for anyone who was wondering, the reason merlin had a bit of a breakdown was because his emotions were in a bit of a jumble, what with freya, and then gwaine and percival, and then his realisations about his mum (i have no idea where any of that paragraph came from, btw! :D) so i think he was perfectly justified in having a bit of a breakdown, dont you? until next time, folks!**

**-APP**


	19. Panic about a Prophet

**AN - Er...hi? *slowly emerges from behind a large, convieniantly placed rock, brandishing an umbrella as a shield* Did you miss me? *readers growl* Aghh! *Drops chapter and quickly darts back behind the rock.***

**Disclaimer - see ch1**

**Line – You did WHAT to Emrys? ~ potterhead from potterland**

* * *

_One Month Later_

_Merlin_

I sighed as I rearranged my workspace for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning.

"Gwaine, for the last time, leave it alone!" I told him. He looked at me sheepishly.

"Sorry, Mer."

"And don't call me Mer!" I yelled after him, as he left my chambers, once again, to fetch more water.

I sighed. Over on the other side of my chambers, Freya giggled.

The nickname had been Arthur's idea, unsurprisingly, and Gwaine hadn't shut up about it ever since. I'd tried retaliation, but nothing seemed to work as well as Princess, and when I'd tried to stick to that one, he'd just scoffed and called me unoriginal. I was still trying to come up with a good one.

As soon as he's realised just how much it'd annoyed me, Gwaine had adopted the name, too. However, I was also still trying to come up with one for him. How do you shorten 'Gwaine'!?

As if reading my thoughts, Freya stood up and swept over to me, engulfing me in a hug.

"You know they only do it to annoy you, Merlin." She told me "If you didn't react, they wouldn't do it."

"I know." I grumbled "I just need to come up with ones for them in return."

"I'm sure you'll think of something brilliant." She told me, and I leant down slightly and kissed her, breaking off when Gwaine entered and exclaimed in disgust.

"Like you don't do the same thing with Percy each night?!" I scoffed "How many times have the two of you been late for training now?"

He mumbled something under his breath, blushing, and I grinned.

"Anyway," he hastily changed the subject "Should I try again?"

I sighed, and set up, for the seventh time that morning, the scrying experiment I was trying to get him to perform. Arthur had requested that he learn it, so that if I was incapacitated somehow, they could still see what was going on elsewhere in the kingdom. Now, however, I was starting to somewhat regret me agreement to teach him.

"_Try_ now to blow anything up this time, please Gwaine?!" I asked him, and he grinned at me. Oh dear.

Suddenly, I was hit by a crippling pain in my head, more intense than the worst migraine, more powerful that the fiercest hurricane, and more sudden than the most unexpected of freak accidents. I was barely aware of screaming as I dropped suddenly to the floor, and lay there, writhing in agony, focusing too much in trying to stop the pain in my head to listen to Freya and Gwaine shouting at me, trying to understand what was wrong, or to notice that Arthur was suddenly there, scooping me into his arms and racing out of the door without even asking what had happened, or to even wonder how he had known that something was wrong in the first place...

Suddenly, the pain stopped as quickly as it had begun, and I fell immediately into unconsciousness.

* * *

_Arthur_

I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. "Tell me again what happened." I demanded of Gwaine. He glared at me irritably.

"For the last time, Arthur, I don't know! He just started screaming and collapsed. I nearly blew up the experiment again in shock."

I gave him a look. "Blew it up? Wait, _again?_" He ignored me, and I nearly growled in exasperation, before turning back towards the room again, and striding over to where my brother lay, motionless.

We were currently in back room of Gaius' chambers, Merlin's old room, which was now used for patients that needed overnight care. Both Gaius and Freya were by him, Freya sitting anxiously, Gaius checking him over carefully. Both looked up at me as I approached.

"No change?" I questioned, and Gaius shook his head.

"None whatsoever. I can't even find what may have caused it."

I frowned. If Gaius didn't know what was wrong, then there was nothing he could do to try and cure it.

Suddenly, Freya spoke up. "If you don't mind me asking, Sire, how did you know how to get there so fast?" she asked me "It was if you suddenly just...appeared, and you didn't even ask us what was happening, you just rushed him straight here."

I looked at her, trying to work out what I could tell her. Finally, I sighed.

"I was talking to Kilgharrah." I told them, and I saw Gwaine look up at me sharply. I ignored him, and kept talking.

"He just appeared after the end of training, telling me he wanted to talk. I agreed to listen, and he told me a lot of things, including one that he told me would both become very important and very relevant in the next few days."

"Which was?" Gaius asked me.

"He called it 'The awakening of the Prophet'. I'm guessing it may relate to this in some way, but I'm not sure how." I left out there rest of what we had talked about deliberately, as most of it had related to the prophecy, and we still hadn't spoken with anyone else about that yet.

"Then, suddenly, I just knew that Merlin needed me. I knew that something had happened, _and_ where he was. Then, I just rushed straight here.

"Hmmm." Gaius sounded thoughtful "I may know why that was, but I'll need to talk to Merlin first. Then he paled.

"Wait, did you say that Kilgharrah said the awakening of the prophet? Are you absolutely positive, Arthur?"

"Yes." I confirmed quickly "It was defiantly that."

I heard Gaius' sharp intake of breath, and both my gaze and Gwaine's snapped immediately to him. Gaius, however, was looking at Merlin with something akin to horror in his eyes.

"Oh _no!_" he breathed, and my eyes met Gwaine's over the bed, horror now visible in both of our pairs of eyes as well.

* * *

_Merlin_

_A flash of red. Fire. The Dragon...what was his name?...letting out a burst of flames and torching someone...more than one...a woman...a man...a child... A Druid. In a forest. Anger in his eyes. Shouting. "You did WHAT to Emrys?!" Another man, cowering away in shame. Arthur...Gwaine...Freya...Leon...Elyan...Percival. ..Gaius...Gwen...My mother...Dead...All Dead..._

I awoke screaming. Immediately, there were people crowding round me, surrounding me, wanting to know what was wrong, what had happened, why I was screaming...smothering me.

Suddenly, my magic was loose, pushing people away from me, I could hear people yelling as things soared around the room, my magic transformed into a kind of wind, racing around, picking things up, only to dump them down again on the other side of the room seconds later, soaring above my head, where I had my face pressed into my knees, people trying to get close, to touch my shoulder, my arm, my head...

Then, suddenly, there was a voice in the chaos. I latched onto it. I knew that voice.

"Merlin, enough!"

The wind stopped.

* * *

_Arthur_

I stared in shock at what had, only a minute previously, been the organised chaos of Gaius' room, but which was now just chaos, with the window's and bottles smashed or in pieces on the floor, the various bundles or herbs scattered around the room, the groaning people picking themselves up from the floor where they had been thrown, wincing as they felt their bruises from landing so hard on the stone floor...

And at the centre of the mess, stood Merlin and I.

And even as the people started to gather around again, I could see Merlin beginning to panic, his breathing getting faster, his eyes darting wildly about, and I knew that I had to stop them before they overwhelmed him again.

"Stop!" I half yelled, and everyone froze. I could feel some of their gazes looking at me curiously, but my gaze was focused on Merlin. He seemed to have recognised my voice before, in the midst of the magic tornado he had subconsciously conjured, and his magic had also seemed to recognise me, as I hadn't been thrown to the floor like the others. Cautiously, I approached the sobbing figure on the bed, which was once again curled up tightly into a ball, rocking gently backwards and forwards. I recognised the signs of someone beginning to go into shock, but I wasn't sure _why_ he was acting that way.

I picked up a nearby blanket from the floor, and gently draped it over his shoulders. I saw his shoulders tense as he realised that I was standing next to him, and I crouched down to floor level so that I could see his face.

"Merlin?" I asked gently, and his body shuddered. I tried again. "Merlin? Are you okay?" He shook his head slightly, his vision flicking up to the rest of the occupants of the room, then onto me, and then back onto the bed.

"Out." I ordered "Everyone out!" I hoped that if it was just me, Merlin would be more likely to talk.

Slowly, everyone trickled out, including Gaius, grudgingly. I closed the door behind them firmly, before approaching Merlin again carefully, and once again sitting beside him on the floor.

"Hey, Merlin." I said gently "It's just me. They're all gone. They won't crowd you."

I waited, and slowly, Merlin began to uncurl from himself, where he lay on the bed.

As he sat up to look at me, I felt my heart wrench slightly at his tearstained face and the devastated look in his eyes.

"Arthur..." he said, sounding broken, and I pulled him into a hug, whereupon he cried into my shoulder for what seemed like at least half an hour.

Finally, I noticed that he had fallen asleep on my shoulder, and gently I lay him back down on the bed. Slowly, I backed out of the room.

Immediately I was accosted by the worried voices of the knights, Gaius, Gwen, and Freya, the rest of whom I figured must have joined them during the time I had been in the room with Merlin.

"Shh!" I told them "He's fallen asleep!"

Instantly, there was silence, and we slowly made our way away from the door and back towards the corridor. There, I told them what I knew.

"Nothing." I told them, before they could ask "He didn't say anything. And," I added fiercely, before anyone could interrupt "No-one, and I mean no-one, will be asking him before he is ready to talk. Is that understood?" There were shocked looks, as, slowly, I received affirmation from all of them.

"Good." I said, before heading back towards the room so that I could be with my brother when he woke up.

* * *

An hour later, there was a quiet knock on the door. I opened it carefully to see Gwaine and Freya standing there nervously. I put a finger to my lips to gesture them to be quiet, and then let them. They looked sadly at Merlin, where he lay silently sleeping, on the bed.

"What happened?" Gwaine asked quietly, tearing his gaze away from Merlin to meet mine. "After we left, I mean. You looked upset when you came out of the room, and..." he trailed off, but I understood.

"He cried." I told them, my voice cracking slightly. "He cried, non-stop, the whole time, and he sounded so sad, so...heartbroken, and I didn't know what to do, or how to help, and he just cried!" My voice slightly rose as I reached the end of my sentence, and as Merlin stirred a little on the bed, I was quiet again.

"I just don't know what to do!" I admitted quietly to them, my voice wavering slightly, my gaze once again on my brother.

* * *

_Merlin_

_A figure, shrouded in fog. A field, near Camelot. I recognised it. It was about half a day's ride away. Closer. I got closer to the figure, closer and closer, until finally, I could see their face. Her face. Morgana. _

_I didn't run. I didn't scream, or rage, or try to attack her. Instead, I understood._

"_Thank you." I told her, and she smiled._

"_I'm waiting." She told me, and I nodded._

"_I'll find you." She smiled again._

"_And now, Merlin, the Time is Right."_

I awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright. I ignored the shocked looks on my brother's and Freya's face, and focused solely on my message for Arthur.

"Now, The Time is Right."

* * *

**AN - Er, hi? will you attack me if I come out? *slowly backs out from behind rock***

**Quite an emotionally charged chapter, that! don't you think?! please, tell me whether or not you liked it! :D**

**Hi! I'm so sorry! basically, I had a Drama exam, and I managed to delete the chapter when it was nearly complete and had to write the whole thing out again (originally, it was very different to this!) and MY LIFE JUST IMPLODED! :D Okay, so no it didn't, but it sounds cooler if I say it did. But all the other stuff actully did happen. Also, thank you to the people who cared about where I had gone! You made me happy! :D**

**Sad note - starting Monday, I have exams for five weeks, so PROBABLY no chapters until then. I am so sorry! (I'm afraid, tho, that my future comes first!) so NO, I haven't abanodoned this, no, it's not on hatias (which I can't spell :D) and I will write IF I can. Is that okay?**

**Once again. I'm sorry!**

**-APP**


	20. Anger and Gratitude

**AN - Hey guys! would you look at this?! I'M BAAAAACK! Yay! :D**

**so, now my exams are over, and i have no more school until September (yay) I can go back to updating once a week? how cool is that? as a matter of fact, I already have next weeks episode done, and let me tell you, it's VERY good. lots of suprises :D**

**But until then, on with this chapter.**

**oh, and before i forget, there is a sort of a recap in this chapter about the event of the last few, since it's been such a long time since the last one :(**

**disclaimer - see ch1**

**Line - What, what, what are you doing? - Guest**

* * *

_Merlin_

Even as I ran pell-mell down the corridor, I could hear others racing along behind me, desperately trying to catch up. But, I asked myself, could I honestly blame them? Probably not, I decided, but I didn't let that thought stop me.

Someone began to call out to me from behind, where they were running possibly Arthur. "What, what, what are you doing?" he called, he breath puffing out in spurts, as I didn't even slow down as we passed a group of servants on the stairs, but instead just quickly weaved my way through them and continued running.

As I raced round yet another corner, I thought back over the extraordinary events of the day. The day had started, as usual, with Gwaine messing up yet _another_ attempt to use his magic in a more controlled and skilled manor.

Then the pain. The mind-numbing, all engulfing pain, so powerful that it had…

No. I didn't want to have to think about that any more than I absolutely had to.

Waking up. Panic. Arthur. Crying? Did I cry? I wasn't sure. Falling asleep again, this time naturally.

Then the dream. The Messenger. The _Message_.

_The Time Is Right!_

I shivered.

Delivering the message. Standing up, slightly wobbly, and racing out of the room, amid the startled cries of Arthur, Freya and Gwaine, who had been in the room with me, past Gaius, Leon, Elyan, Gwen, Percival, who had been standing and waiting outside, anxious. My friends and family, who, minus Gaius, of course, were now chasing after as fast as they could, desperate to try and catch me. I smiled at the thought.

And then to now, racing through the cloisters of Camelot. And I knew where we were going, even if no-one else did. I knew.

As I sprinted through the lower town, my éntauge close on my heels, ignoring the cries of shock of the villagers we barely avoided completely smashing into, my mind explored new memories, memories it had forgotten, memories of escaping from Mordred, and the help I had received. Of the warning. My actions and previously disjointed memories of the rest of that day made a lot more sense to me now.

On the other hand, some of it now made a lot less sense.

Morgana had been helping us? Protecting us from Mordred? Surely not? But I had to admit, my heart was clinging on to the hope that it was true. Truly, I missed my old friend, who had often stood against Arthur and the King, doing, almost daily, that which any other would dare not. All of this was before her betrayal, of course. But even now, when I knew it could not _possibly_ be so, I still hoped we could have all still been mistaken.

She would have a lot of questions to answer, that was for sure, and I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be the only one asking them.

I slowed down as I finally reached the clearing I was heading for. And of course, she was there, as beautiful as she had ever been in her previous life. And then, for the first time since delivering my message back in Gaius' rooms half an hour previously, I spoke.

"Morgana."

* * *

I didn't hear so much as _feel_ the gasps of shock, surprise, and even a little anger as my quarry finally caught up with me, racing into the clearing behind me and catching sight of just who it was I had been so desperate to see that I had ignored their worried voices for so long. As he drew next to me, with Arthur on my others side, Gwaine almost growled.

Instantly, the knights had the swords out, and slowly began to advance towards her. Instantly, I raised my fist and yelled, my voice ringing out through the clearing.

"_ENOUGH!__"_

Incredulously, everyone minus Morgana turned to look at me, almost as one, shocked expressions on their faces. In front of me, meeting my gaze clearly and without flinching, Morgana had a small smile on her face.

As I stepped towards her, I felt both Gwaine and Arthur tense slightly, before beginning to move with me. I stopped them with a small shake of my head.

As I walked towards her, I scrutinised her closely. The same expression she used to have. The same light in her eyes, hidden within a little shadow. Almost, even, the same type of clothes she had used to wear. She met my gaze, steadily, the whole time as I assessed her, her form, and who she had become.

As I finally reached her, and stood in front of her, the two of us looked at each other.

But while she may have just looked _at_ me, I looked _into_ her, desperate to find the answer I wanted, but also slightly hesitant in case I should find the one I did not.

As I pulled out again, exclaiming slightly in surprise, I was shocked at what I had found. "How is that even _possible?_" I breathed, as I reached forward and engulfed her in a hug.

* * *

The cries of shock were barely stifled as we pulled away again. I looked across the clearing as Gwaine and Arthur looked at each other, looked at me, and then as one, began to charge across the clearing towards us, swords drawn. Hastily, I put up a quick shield with a wave of my hand, and was amused to realise that Morgana had done the same from where she stood beside me. I cast an appraising eye over her. "You _have_ been practising." I complemented her. I heard Gwaine's cry of despair from behind the shield as he heard what I said. From beside him, Arthur's icy glare could have killed a man at twenty paces.

"So how long has this been going on, Merlin?" he asked me "For exactly _how long_ have you been betraying my trust, _our _trust, and conspiring with the enemy, hmm? Since before your deaths, at least, it must be, so how much longer. A month? A year? GOD DAMMIT, Merlin, HOW LONG?!" he screamed, before crumpling to the floor and crying. From beside him, Gwaine glared, before sinking to the floor beside him and adopting a similar position.

I cautiously approached the barrier, ignoring the glares of my 'friends' behind them, and crouched before where my brothers lay slumped against it, where they lay fully believing I was a traitor and had betrayed them. I sighed sadly.

"How long will it take you" I murmured to them "to realise that just because people have betrayed you in the past, people you both called family, does not mean that any family you have now will do the same. You two are my family!" I whispered to them fiercely, looking into their tear-stained faces "And nothing, nothing, will _ever_ come above that. Not marriage. Not magic. Not Mordred. Not even death."

And even as they looked up at me, and I realised how guilty I had made myself look with my behaviour since we had arrived at the clearing, I could feel their confusion at what was happening.

"I'm sorry." I told them as I stood up again "All will be explained in a minute. But, if you don't mind, I think I'll keep the shield up for the moment."

Gwaine chuckled, and they both nodded as I turned round and walked back to Morgana, bringing her forward to the edge of the barrier that separated the two sides of the clearing.

"Now, we are going to talk, civilly and sensibly, without _any_ interruptions _or accusations_ about the events which have culminated in the events here today." I said loudly, so that everyone present could hear me. "Is that quite alright with everyone?" I asked in a voice that gave no room for arguments. Grudgingly, everyone agreed.

"Good." I said, turning to Morgana. "Shall I start or would you like to?" I asked her. She smiled at me.

"I will start." She said, turning to face our audience. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before opening and beginning accordingly.

"It begins, properly, I suppose, some years ago when I first met Morgause. No, in fact, it was slightly after that." She corrected herself. She cleared her throat slightly before continuing "It was about the time that the Fires of Idirsholas were lit, although that was still her fault."

I winced. I remembered vividly what had happened between Morgana and myself at about that time, and frequently wondered if I could have done anything, anything at all to change it. Morgana noticed and put her hand on my arm, earning a glare from Freya which no-one but I noticed. I smiled at her reassuringly, before looking at Morgana.

"You are not to blame." she told me. I snorted

"I'm pretty sure that I am." I told her, and she looked at me sternly.

"Merlin, did you force me to go and see Morgause?" she asked me.

"No." I muttered.

"Or maybe, perhaps, you were the one who put the spell on me?"

"No, I wasn't, but…"

"Exactly, you _weren't_ responsible. In fact, the only thing you did do was end the spell."

I glanced shiftily about the people who didn't already know this next fact, before bursting out with "But I poisoned you!"

There was a small intake of breath from those who hadn't already known, before Morgana continued again. "It was the only way to end the spell, Merlin, and you know it." she told me firmly. I nodded, still not completely convinced.

"And besides," she added, almost as an afterthought "If you hadn't, I wouldn't be here."

"Yes," Arthur cut in "Exactly how _are_ you here, Morgana? Only, I'm pretty sure that Merlin here defeated you some time last year. Or am I mistaken?" he asked.

"No, you're not mistaken." she said, quickly continuing before any questions could be voiced with "At least, he killed a part of me."

"Oh!" said Freya suddenly "_Oh!_ Wow! I must say, that's very clever."

"So you've worked it out." said Morgana, scrutinising her carefully, before she gasped suddenly. "You!" she exclaimed "You're the one who I…and you can tell because you…Oh of _course!_" She looked at Freya with something akin to fondness in her eyes. "Who else would it have been?"

I was confused, briefly, until suddenly I was hit with a brief onslaught of images, of Morgana and Freya, and what she had done. Upon recovering, I gasped as the world span dizzily, and I quickly sat down with a thump.

"Merlin!" I heard the worried cries of my friends and family as I looked up a Morgana.

"_Thank you!_" I told her reverently "_Thank you so much!_" She smiled at me softly.

"Oh God, not again." I heard Gwaine mutter, while Arthur cleared his throat.

"While Merlin's cryptic messages are all very interesting," he began "the rest of us would still like to know what actually happened!"

So, slowly, the two of us explained what had happened, both frequently cutting over and correcting the other.

We explained how, when I had poisoned Morgana, effectively, her soul had split. And while part of it had been rescued by Morgause, the rest had been left anchored in Camelot, until someone had seen fit to release it. That someone, it turned out, had been Kilgharrah, as he had known all the time Morgana's true destiny, and what would need to happen in order for it to be fulfilled.

Then I explained about how Morgana had helped me while in the clutches of Mordred, and then erased my memories temporarily in order not to raise my suspicion, but had now returned them. I also explained how she had released Freya from the lake, and saw Percival instantly begin to act less unfriendly towards her, if only fractionally at first.

At some point, Kilgharrah had come into land behind us, listening patiently all the while without interruption or correction. Also, although I didn't comment on it, I felt multiple consciousness begin to surround the clearing, slowly gathering at first, then more and more until I felt at last the woods would burst with them.

As the woods filled, the story was unraveled, and I felt a great sense of satisfaction begin to settle over the land. However, that satisfaction had a dark tinge, I realized.

A tinge of _anticipation._

"It's coming." I murmured without really realizing what I was saying, or even that I was speaking out loud at all, or, indeed, that the whole clearing and the surrounding woods had gone deafeningly quiet in order to hear what it was I was saying.

"Indeed it is, Young Warlock." Kilgharrah agreed gravely "Indeed it is."

* * *

**AN - well? well? what did you think? dramatic or what, huh? leave a review to tell me how impressed you are (or not, if you're not) I do hope everything was clear enough to be understood.**

**anyway, i've decided to begin to draw this story to a close, but don't worry! there's probably still going to be about another ten chapters first!**

**until next time, ammigos!**

**-APP**


	21. A Crown of Leaves

**AN - hi guys! sorry this is a bit later at night, but i almost forgot! oops! but to be fair, i got distracted by supernatural, so...**

**anyway, mixed feedback on the last chapter, but most people seemed to like that i'd made morgana good. i know it's a thing that's done alot, but i need her. I'll say no more for now ;D**

**this chapter was very easy to write, surprisingly easy, in fact. i just hope that the way i wrote it conveys successfully the beauty and awe i saw in my mind as i wrote it. if not, then it might not turn out as half as well as i'd hoped.**

**some revelations in this chapter, and quite a few of them, too. so try to keep up!**

**oh, and also, before i forget, next week i'm on holiday, so it might be ab extra day or two before this is up. sorry!**

**disclaimer - see ch1**

**Line - Merlin, what are you wearing? - mine**

* * *

_Merlin_

As we stood there, the clearing silent after my sudden announcement, I suddenly realised that the barrier was still raised between myself, Morgana, and Kilgharrah, and the rest of my family and friends on the field. With an almost absentminded wave of my hand, I pulled it down, and instantly Arthur and Gwaine were at my side. I smiled at them, before turning to Kilgharrah.

"I have a question." I told him "About what happened to me earlier."

"I think we've all got questions about that, Merlin." Arthur told me, but I ignored him in favour of looking up at the dragon instead.

Kilgharrah appeared to ponder over his answer for a minute, before sighing.

"The event you refer to" he informed me "is the Awakening of the Prophet." Beside me Arthur gasped, but said nothing else.

"It is an event long prophesised, much like the Once and Future King and Emrys, and now, of course, the Unexpected Dragonlord as well. This particular prophecy talks of a time of peace, blighted by revenge, and then of a land either purged of sorrow, of rife with it."

"And the fate of the land, of course, would depend on this prophet." I finished wearily. "Of course. And this prophet is me?"

"Naturally." snorted Gwaine, and I sighed.

"Fantastic."

Suddenly, Aithuasia swooped into the clearing, and landed beside Kilgharrah. I thought nothing of it, until I noticed exactly who was on her back.

"Mother! Gaius!"

I ran over to them and helped them down from the smaller dragon, whereupon I hugged my mother tightly.

"Hello, Merlin." she whispered to me as I let go.

I tensed slightly, as I felt the consciences surrounding us begin to stir, as suddenly, there were hundreds of druids in the clearing as well. But not just druids. There was a surprise, in that the Catha were there, with Alator at their head, and among them, there were water spirits and dryads, both of the water and the land, and, last of all, a unicorn I had once seen long ago. I bowed to it, and it inclined its head slightly in return.

I turned to Iseldar, who was at the head of the druids.

"What's all this?" I asked him "What's happening?"

It was not he who replied, but instead my mother.

"Merlin, the Awakening of the Prophet has long been overshadowed by another event foretold by it." she hesitated slightly before continuing. "The crowning of the Druid King."

"Mother?" I asked her.

"You, Merlin." she clarified, and I sighed again.

"Truly?" I asked, turning to face Iseldar again.

He nodded. "Your mother is an intelligent woman. What she says is true."

"And there's no way for me to avoid it? No way to postpone it until there are less people around, no way for it to be _anyone_ other than me?"

"None at all." he confirmed sincerely.

"Brilliant." The Great Dragon chuckled slightly, and I swung round to face him.

"And how long have you known about this, exactly?" I asked him. Before he could even begin to respond, Gwaine caught my arm.

"Easy, brother." he said. I sighed and looked at both him and Kilgharrah.

"I'm sorry." I told them "It's just been a very long day, is all." The dragon bowed his head in understanding.

"Right." I said, turning around to face the rest of the people in the clearing "How exactly does this work, then?"

* * *

The ceremony of a Coronation of a Druid King, Iseldar had explained, with the help of Alator, had never been performed before, as there had never _been_ a druid king before, so as a result, no-one really quite knew what the ceremony would be like, nor what may happen to the land as a result of it. Therefore, it was decided that the ceremony would run on instinct and improvisation.

In other words, we would make it up as we went along. Brilliant.

Suddenly, something within me, for lack of a better word, _flared_, and I instantly knew how to start.

"All ye here before me possessing the noble and ancient art of magic," I began, only slightly surprised to hear not only how my speech had changed suddenly, but also how my voice had deepened noticeably as well. "gather together and join thy hands."

Almost fluidly, as if it had been rehearsed beforehand, there was a circle around the edge of the clearing, comprising of druids, Catha, dryads, and spirits. Encased inside of it were Arthur and I. Across the circle, I saw Morgana smile at me, before joining her compatriots and closing her eyes as they had. Behind us, Gwaine was completely focused, doing the same. With a jolt, as I looked around, I realised I was barely surprised to see my mother deeply ingrained in the magic of the circle as well.

Arthur looked around awkwardly, and upon spotting the few people in the clearing _without_ magic gathered together along one edge and looking slightly nervous, began to shuffle out of the circle and over to them. My hand on his arm stopped him quickly.

"No, _Llantin_." I told him, in my deep voice. "You stay with me. Come."

Together, we walked towards the centre of the circle, with was alive and thrumming with magic. Gaius looked younger than ever as he shared his magic throughout the circle, and in the background, I could hear the Dragons humming along to the thrum of the magic.

As we reached the middle, I closed my eyes and joined the meld, instinctively knowing what to do. I felt Arthur's uncertainty about what he was doing in here with me, as I grabbed his hands and drew him in too. He almost gasped at the sensation we felt.

I deep feeling of awe. Flashes of bright colour, orange, pink, red. The red, I realised, that I had seen in my first trance. It was beginning to come true. The wheels of fate were turning.

Suddenly, an incantation spilled forth from my lips. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know what it meant. I didn't know how I knew it. I just knew that it was Right.

Suddenly, my eyes and everyone else's in the circle flew open. There were large spires of magic circling into the air of all colours, woven with images of the past, the present, the future…

Magic is all-knowing, and outside of our timeline, yet still personable and able to be touched. And now, it was touching us all in our hearts.

I could feel it judging me, evaluating me, and I gasped in understanding. _No! _It wasn't _possible!_

Suddenly, the presence of magic vanished, and startlingly, it was Arthur who was left with a crown in his hands. It was a beautiful thing, a crown of leaves, interwoven with silver. Suddenly, Arthur was wearing his crown as well, and I got the feeling he instinctively knew what to do, and what to say, just as I had, so I sank to my knees in front of him without further instruction.

"Do you, Merlin Emrys Ambrosias, swear to enforce and uphold the rules of the magic of this land?" he intoned.

"I do swear."

"And do you, Merlin Emrys Ambrosias, swear to help and protect any druid who supports your cause who comes before you?"

"I do swear."

"And finally, do you, Merlin Emrys Ambrosias, swear to look over and care for this land in accordance with the laws and rules of magic lain down by your ancestor over five hundred years ago?"

"I, Merlin Emrys Ambrosias, do solemnly swear to enforce the laws of this land, magic and otherwise, and, to the best of my ability, protect the magical people and creatures of this land."

"Then I crown you, Merlin Emrys Ambrosias, King of the Druids, and by the choice of the magnificence herself, King over all magic, alive, dead and in-between."

There was a dead silence in the clearing as Arthur placed the crown upon my head and the last verges of the spectacular magic surrounding us vanished, before the cheering of those surrounding us began.

And even as the Dragons roared and I grinned at Arthur, who stood beside me looking slightly stunned still, and even as I knew that the immanent battle was drawing ever closer, I also knew that this was the happiest day of my life so far. And I was proud.

* * *

As the circle began to break up, although everyone remained in the clearing, they formed their own groups in which they talked about the events not long past, and shot me speculative glances when they thought I wasn't looking. But I saw them. I saw them all.

I didn't mind. For most, if not all of them, I was their King now, after all.

Their King. That felt strange. I was a King! Me! A King!

Arthur saw my expression and laughed.

"It feels slightly strange, doesn't it?" he told me knowingly as I looked at him. "To know that all of the people surrounding you will look to you for acceptance and protection. It felt strange to me, at least, and I'd been anticipating it for the last 25 years!" his smile faded slightly as he looked at me properly. "I can't imagine having no preparation for it at all."

Our conversation was cut off as Gwaine came over to us. "Your Majesties!" he greeted cheerfully.

"Oh, God." I muttered under my breath. Arthur sniggered slightly. Then I noticed something. While my voice had gone back to normal after the ceremony had ended, it appeared that other things had changed in it's stead.

"Hey! I'm taller than you!" I said to Gwaine, who looked affronted.

"You are not! You're a midget!"

"Not any more!" I said gleefully "I suppose it wouldn't look good if you couldn't see one of the most powerful kings in Albion if he stood surrounded by a crowd!" I laughed, and after a minute, Gwaine and Arthur joined in.

"Hey, Merlin?" Gwaine suddenly broke through our laughter, and I looked at him. "What are you _wearing?_" I looked down, and suddenly realised that, as Gwaine had rightly pointed out, I was no longer wearing the clothes I had when I had entered the clearing. The reds of Camelot had disappeared, although my scarf remained, displaying my loyalty to the kingdom, and instead I wore earthy green colours, shot through with purple. I looked around for an explanation.

Suddenly, Iseldar was at my elbow. "A King must have Kingly clothes, must he not?" he said, and then "Congratulations, my liege." before he was swallowed up into the crowds again.

"Well that was odd." Gwaine pointed out obviously.

"Indeed." agreed Arthur. "Now come on, Merlin. You need to greet your people."

As I wandered through the clearing, meeting several people who I realised that I was now in charge of, I thought back over the extraordinary events of the day. After all, it had only been a day since this had all started.

I didn't know that in the future this day would be referred to as the beginning of the end.

Then, suddenly, I encountered my mother for the first time since the circle. I didn't say anything, and neither did she. Then suddenly,

"You knew?"

"I guessed." I told her. "After all, as extraordinary as you would have been otherwise, how could Emrys have realistically have only had one magical parent. It didn't make sense."

She nodded and smiled. "You always were intelligent." Then , suddenly, she was gone again, disappearing back into the crowd too.

The one other visitor I had really wanted to see since it had arrived in the clearing was the unicorn, and then suddenly there it was.

As I approached it carefully, I heard it speak in my head, and I was more than a little shocked at what it had to say.

"You are sure?" I asked it, and nodded it's head slowly, before bending forward and touching me lightly with it's horn. I gasped, and instantly knew that I had the courage to face whatever may lay ahead over the coming weeks.

And then, as I stood on a raised platform in the middle of the clearing, and addressed my people for the first time, I followed the first of the unicorn's instructions.

"You have long known," I began "Of the Ancient Prophecies, of Emrys and the Once and Future King." There was a roar from the crowd. "What less people know is how, fairly recently, that prophecy changed." I heard a sharp intake of breath fro Arthur and Gwaine from where they stood to the side of the stage, but plunged on ahead with what I was saying anyway.

"Very recently, as a result of my acts as I died, no less, I inadvertently managed to alter the most important prophecy that there ever has or ever will be. And now, I have decided, with a little prompting, I will admit, to reveal the contents of this updates prophecy hear today."

Ignoring the gasps of shock from the crowds around me, as well as the fact that Gwaine and Arthur had climbed onto the platform beside me to give me their support should I need it, I took a deep breath and began.

"The Prophecy goes thus - 'The warlock Emrys shall have a brother, then two, and they shall be the Brothers of Destiny. They will be his apprentice, the Unexpected Dragonlord, and his leader, the Once and Future King. Together, they will bring peace throughout all Albion. But one will have to pay a terrible price for this. One of the brothers shall sacrifice their soul to save the other two. Once taken, this soul cannot be returned by anyone under any circumstances. But beware, the other two, for once this happens, Albion will never be the same again.'"

I gave a few minutes for the audience to get over the beginnings of their shock and work out exactly what I would tell them next, and then began to draw my shocking speech to a close.

"The Once and Future King is, of course, Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot, the man on my left, for those of you who didn't know what he looked like. The Unexpected Dragonlord, on closer examination of the prophecy, was revealed to be none other than Sir Gwaine, Knight of Camelot, who is the man on their right. Rest assured that the…less savoury events mentioned have been addressed, and we are doing all we can to prevent them. Thank you."

With that, I concluded my speech.

"But, Merlin," Gwaine said to me, lowering his voice slightly, confused "I thought you said that the future couldn't be changed once it had been foreseen?" I sighed.

"It can't." I told him "But they don't need to know that."

* * *

**AN - tada! what did you think! i really hope it was as beautiful to you as it was to me in my head :D**

**in case it wasnt completly clear, merlin was the prophecised druid king, and then during the ceremony, magic herself decided that it wanted merlin as her king as well. so not only is he king of the druids, but also of magic as well.**

**also, the name merlin gave to arthur - llantin - i made it up. as far as i know, it has no other meaning, so don't look for one, 'cause you'll just be disopointed!**

**thanks for reading! please, tell me what you think!**

**-APP**


	22. Suicidal Kings and Explaining Things

**AN - hello! sorry this is slightly late, but this chapter did _not_ want to be written. i suppose it didn't help that i was on holiday, but still...anyway, it's done now :D**

**slightly more of a filler chapter this time, but more action soon, i promise! anyway, from some of the reviews i was getting, i got the feeling that i was confusing some people slightly, so i wanted to try and clear some of that up.**

**Line - Can you two argue about this when we're on the ground? - SpangleyPony**

**disclaimer - see ch 1**

* * *

_Merlin_

I don't think the dragon was too happy with the sudden announcement I'd just made.

This was evident when, only minutes later, he scooped the Camelot delegation into the air without another word and rapidly began to fly away from the clearing.

So, rather abruptly, it seemed that Gwen, Freya, Leon, Percival, Elyan, Gwaine, Arthur and I were off on an unplanned journey into the unknown. Dangling from the claws of a Dragon.

Yay.

After a while, with no signs of us landing anytime soon, and Kilgharrah refusing to talk to me, I sighed and closed my eyes. Retreating into myself slightly, I sent Iseldar a quick message, so that no-one would begin to panic too much.

'_Don__'__t worry about us, everything is under control. Can you try to keep the peace there until we get back please? Thanks.__'_

Without waiting for a response, as keeping up a long-distance telepathic connection was tiring for anyone, I quickly drew back out of myself. I opened my eyes to see the others looking at me with concerned eyes, and Gwaine, who was the closest, shaking my arm as vigorously as he could without dislodging half of us. I looked at him, confused.

"You…you just closed your eyes and went limp suddenly!" Freya explained shakily, looking over at me with scared eyes. I instantly regretted scaring her, even though I'd had no idea what would happen.

"Sorry." I apologised quickly, and then explained what I'd been doing. They nodded in understanding. We quickly settled into a companionable silence.

Then, about half an hour later, when we STILL showed no signs of stopping, and some of us were beginning to grow restless, I sighed.

"Right." I said, determined to try to do _something_ to make our situations more comfortable as we flew. The others looked at me, clearly unwilling to disturb as I concentrated in case I accidentally fell, or caused someone else to.

Then, suddenly, I had an idea. It wasn't the best I'd ever had, but then again, nor was it the worst. However, even if I pulled it off, I knew I'd be shouted at by everyone here, at least once. And if I didn't, well….I'd work that out later.

Without further ado, I began to squirm wriggling the bit of cloth stuck in Kilgharrah's claws free. The others shot me slightly worried looks, but I ignored them, fully focused on what it was I was trying to do. Then, with one last smile at the people surrounding me, The last bit of cloth slipped and I began to fall.

There were the screams of my friends above me as I fell, and then all to soon, my plan was foiled, as the dragon dipped slightly and caught me by the ankle instead.

"Damn."

The others looked at me as if I was crazy. Or, at least, I think they did, as it was rather hard to see from my new vantage point near their feet.

"Hey, Arthur, did you know your trousers have a stain on them?" I asked him as if commenting on the weather, as if nothing had just happened.

"Merlin."

I looked up at him awkwardly, neither of us looking away from each other until the swinging motion of my body forced us to.

"Is it common for newly crowned kings to attempt to kill themselves?" Gwaine asked Percival slightly jokingly, which I knew was his way of dealing with the tension, which suddenly reminded me.

I quickly summoned my crown, which had fallen as I had, and fastened it around my wrist securely with magic. With another thought, I secured Arthur's to his head in case it should become dislodged too. Then, I looked back up at them.

"I wasn't trying to kill myself." I explained, receiving some very scorning looks in return. "I wasn't!" I insisted. The looks were still sceptical.

"No, honestly. If it had _worked properly_," I directed my annoyed tone towards the dragon "then Kilgharrah would have caught me on his back. Then, it would have been a simple matter to transport the rest of you up there too. Unfortunately, I can't do it from here, as I might miss and drop you all without a direct point of direction in my line of eyesight. Therefore, in order to be caught, I needed to fall." I explained as if it was nothing. The looks were less scorning now.

"But Merlin, what if it hadn't worked?" Gwen asked anxiously.

"Then I would have caught myself before I had hit the ground." I explained patiently. No-one looked convinced, and Arthur snorted.

"So you can work magic while falling to fast to comprehend, can you Merlin?" he asked me scornfully.

_If_ I had needed to, Arthur, it probably would have been instinctive." I informed him slightly tetchily, as the swinging motion of my body was beginning to make me feel slightly sick.

"Besides," I added before anyone else could say anything "Magic wouldn't have let me die, as arrogant as that sounds, as a key figure of two major prophecies, and her king, she just wouldn't have let that happen." Everyone looked a little stunned at that, except for Arthur and I.

"Wait, you're the King of _Magic?_" someone asked from above me, but I couldn't tell who because of my inconvenient vantage point below the rest of them.

"Hmmmm." I agreed, a little absentmindedly.

"But that still doesn't excuse…" Arthur began, but I quickly interrupted him.

"If you don't stop talking about it _right now_, I'm going to pull your boots off and drop them, and make you walk back to Camelot barefoot." I threatened. He opened his mouth to respond, but Leon cut over us.

"As amusing as this is, can you two argue about this when we're on the ground?" He asked us, eyeing the space below us all warily. I got the feeling that my fall hadn't improved his nerves, either.

Suddenly, Kilgharrah, who, until now had ignored us, spoke directly into my mind.

'_Get ready for decent.'_ he warned me.

"Finally!" I muttered.

After performing some sort of weird flip-thing about two feet from the ground with the help of my magic, to prevent me from landing on my head, we were all set down in the cave Gwaine, Arthur and I had been brought to many months ago when we had heard the prophecy for the first time. It felt oddly poetic in a way.

When the dragon had landed too, with a puff of dust and air, I rounded on him.

"What the hell was that for?" I demanded, and he started back at me unflinchingly.

"I could ask you the same thing, young Warlock." he told me seriously, and I snorted.

"I bet you could." I muttered, and the dragon gave me a _look_.

"Sorry." I apologised, running my hands over my face. "A lot's happened today." behind me, I heard someone snort at my statement, but I ignored it.

"So why did you?" The dragon persisted, and for some reason, it made me angry.

"I was under orders!" I almost yelled, and the dragon looked at me scornfully.

"You, Merlin, are now a KING, and there is not one person, besides Arthur, who could order you around right now, and I get the feeling he was surprised at your statement as I was!" The dragon fumed, dropping some of his formality in his distress and using our real names. He hadn't finished his rant yet, though.

"Who _exactly_ would you let order you around without an argument, especially about something as important as…"

I snapped.

"It was the Unicorn!" I yelled. There was a stunned silence in the cave. "It was the Unicorn, okay?" I repeated, my voice a little softer.

"The Unicorn?" Kilgharrah's voice was quieter now, almost stunned into silence." I nodded tersely in agreement, not believing I had enough control not to snap again if I spoke out loud.

There was the sound of shifting from behind me, and I turned to see some of my friends looking rather awkward about the situation we now found ourselves in. Finally, the last person I expected stepped forwards. Freya.

"I don't know about the others," she began, fairly softly at first, but her voice building in volume as she continued to speak. "but I am completely confused right now, Merlin. First of all you collapse, screaming, and refuse to talk to anyone but Arthur. Then, you suddenly race off and meet up with Morgana. Then, there was some sort of massive ceremony that none of us really understood, and now we're stood in a cave watching you have an argument with a dragon! And, as I said before, I don't know about the others here," she gestured to our friends and family who stood around her. "but I'm a little cross that the only one of us who has _any_ sort of an idea of what's happened here today is Arthur! Merlin, we're your friends." She softened her voice, looking directly into my eyes. "You don't have to completely bottle yourself away. _Talk_ to us."

With that, she seemed to realise that everyone in the cave was now watching her, most with slightly awe-filled looks, and, embarrassed, she blushed and looked down at her feet.

I crossed the cave and stood in front of her, and lifted her head up with my hand until she was looking into my eyes.

"You're right." I told her. "I'm sorry. Forgive me?" I almost begged, and I response she leaned up slightly and kissed me.

We broke off, both blushing slightly, when Percival cleared his throat and reminded me, "Merlin, that's my little sister you're kissing there." I flushed.

"Sorry." I apologised, not looking at anyone. Freya laughed slightly.

"She's right, Merlin." Gwen said, returning us to the moment at hand. "You can talk to us, always."

I sighed and dragged a hand through my hair, sighing slightly. "I know I can." I told them. "and I believe I owe you all an explanation.

Together, we sat on the floor of the cave, and I explained how my 'fit' earlier on that same day had in fact been a long-prophesised event called the Awakening of the Prophet, which foretold the crowning of the Druid King. I explained how my 'vision' had awoken my memories of Morgana, and how I now knew that she was on our side - for good. I explained about my coronation, and now how I was not only the King of the Druids, but also of magic, chosen by the being herself. As the sky began to darken properly now, I described my meeting with the Unicorn, what it had said to me, and how it had touched me with it's horn. At that, Freya, who sat in front of me in my arms, twisted around and brushed the hair away from my forehead, revealing a faint mark of my forehead where the Unicorn had touched me, that I had instinctively known was there. Finally, I fully explained the plan I'd ha while we were travelling, for the sake of Kilgharrah, and the reason for the argument the two of us had had once we had landed.

Finally, as I finished speaking, my voice slightly hoarse, the sun burst across the sky, signalling the start of a new day. I had unknowingly spoken throughout the night, and now we were all exhausted. No-one was sleeping, however.

Eventually Gwaine broke the silence. "So what do we do now?" I turned to look at him, the next section of the Unicorn's commands in my mind.

"I have often been told," I began slowly, turning to face Arthur on my other side, knowing I had captured the attention of everyone in the cave "that sunrise is a good time to make decisions." Arthur inclined his head to me slightly.

"And what is the decision you have made?" he asked me, sensing a need for seriousness that would otherwise be lacking in our conversations day to day.

"I have decided," I began, drawing it out as long as I could, not to build suspense, but because I fully suspected that my idea would not necessarily be met with the best reception. "that we have been waiting around for too long. Mordred is a problem, and needs to be eliminated. Therefore, my decision is that we will go to war with Mordred…tomorrow."

There was silence in the cave.

* * *

**An - ooooooohhh! who expected that then? not me, that's for sure! :D**

**i hope that's clearer for some people now if it's not, then PM me and i'll try to make it clearer for you!**

**also, not sure if merlin was slightly ooc in this chapter or not, so if you could let me know, that would be great!**

**bye for now!**

**-APP**


	23. Preparing for the End

**AN - I know, this should have been up yesterday, and i'm sorry, but i had my prom and then didn't get home until late 'cause i had to work as well and then just...gah. I'm sorry. It won't happen again :(**

**i dont know about you, but i've actully been waiting for this one for a while. Someone mentioned that it was as if i was trying to drag the story out for longer than i should, so you'll all be pleased to know that this, folks, is the beginning of the end! i predict somewhere between 5-10 chaps left? I'm not sure**

**also, this is a little shorter than usual (about half the length) as i needed it to stop where it did *shrugs* sorry**

**see you at the bottom!**

**disclaimer - see ch1**

**Line - The tower of doom - mine**

* * *

_Merlin_

_Two days later_

"Where did you want these, Sire?" A druid carrying some of the older swords from the armoury approached me with his question.

"Over there, in that tent with the others, please." I told him, before turning back to what it was I was doing.

"Oh, you mean in that tower of doom?" he muttered, and Arthur snorted slightly.

"_Why_ did they name it that, again?" I asked him, and he shrugged.

"To be fair, it _is_ where the most damage will be done." he pointed out, and I sighed.

"You're sure of this?" I asked him cautiously for the last time, and he nodded, understanding my reluctance.

"Come on, then." I told him "Let's get Gwaine."

Since out impromptu kidnapping a couple of days earlier, we had began to make our plans, and upon arriving back at Camelot, fully refreshed due to magic, had began to act on them.

Since then, I had spent most of my time erecting wards around the field we had chosen. The soldiers and druids Arthur and I commanded had been surprisingly unsurprised at the news that we had wanted to go to war within the next few days, and had immediately began to set up defences on a field chosen for both accessibility and as a neutral ground for the both sides. Arthur had told me repeatedly that this was a foolish idea and that we should use every advantage we could get, but I had my reasons. And, as much as it pained me, he couldn't know what they were. Not yet, at least.

Now, however, the preparations were nearly over. The soldiers were in position. The defences were in place. The druids that wished to were ready to fight, the rest in the healing tents, presided over by Gaius, Gwen, and Freya.

There were only two things left to do, and we were off to do the first.

I'd spent as much time as I could, trying not to distract myself to much from what I was meant to be doing, thinking about the prophecy.

One line in particular, obviously, was bugging me the most. '_One of the brothers shall sacrifice their soul to save the other two'._

Sacrifice implied it was willing. To save implied that something would happen to the other two to force the third brothers hand.

And then the next part. '_this soul cannot be returned' . _Whatever happened, it would be permanent.

And then of course there was the ominous line of how Albion would never be the same again after the event. Lovely.

I'd been over these sentences again and again and again. There were only so many ways these words could be interpreted, and prophecy always have been and always would be very literal things.

In short, I had nothing.

That wouldn't stop me trying, though.

"Merlin?" Arthur prompted me from my thoughts as we reached the other soldiers, most of whom looked a little nervous. I shook my head to clear it of the dark thoughts I was having, and then cleared my throat to get their attention.

When they all realised I was there, and I finally had their attention, Gwaine, Percy, Leon, and Elyan all pushing to the front, as usual, a raised my arms slightly.

"I'm going to attempt to put a shield on you all." I told them, noticing some of them shifting slightly at the thought of having magic cast on them. "It won't hurt." I told them "But it might feel a bit strange for a minute."

Without waiting to see their reactions, I took a deep breath in and closed my eyes, feeling out with my magic until I was connected to each of them through the magic in the air. Then, slowly, I released my breath in long stream of green fog, which covered them all, settling against their armour, and disappearing after a few seconds. I smiled. I hadn't tried that in a while, and I was surprised it still worked.

With that, a signalled to Arthur, who grabbed _our_ knights (as Arthur had taken to calling them) and pulled them all off to the side. They looked slightly confused, until I told them "Extra protection.", and once again, performed the spell, putting slightly more power in this time, resulting in blue fog instead of green. It settled over me as well, this time, as I realised I had forgotten to include myself last time.

"There." I told them "That should block most things, but you should still be careful. I can't count for everything, nor protect you should it fail. It shouldn't, but still, just in case…" I trailed off, but they all nodded in understanding.

"Excellent. In that case, Arthur, Shorty, follow me." I ignored the cry of outrage from one brother and the laughter from the other as I led the two of them away from the others. When we were far enough away, a faced them.

"I'm going to give us as much as I can, in light of the prophecy." I told them, ignoring their worried and nervous looks.

"Hold still." I told them, as I reached down into the very core of my magic, pulsating and thrumming with anticipation for the upcoming battle. I took hold of as much of it as I could, and _pulled_ it over us, covering us in a thick blanket of iridescent purple smoke.

When it eventually cleared, five or so minutes later, I could feel the awe in the gazes of the people watching us. I cleared my throat and raised my voice, addressing them all.

"It's time."

"Positions!" Arthur barked from his place beside me, and the field was filled with the fluid movement of people hurrying into their positions. Finally, once they were all in place, and there was just the three of us left in sight, I turned to face them.

"Your shield should be recharged by your magic, but be careful anyway." I told Gwaine, and he shot me a small smile.

"Arthur," I turned to face him "Yours is obviously not, so stay as close to me as possible." He looked at me as if I was stupid.

"As if I wouldn't do that anyway?!" he asked me as if I was stupid, and Gwaine nodded in agreement.

"We're in this together."

Suddenly, faced with the enormity of what it was that we were about to do, coupled with the knowledge that one of us wouldn't survive this, I just wanted this one last moment with them. And they understood that, and felt the same.

So we stood there, the three of us in our embrace, preparing for battle for the first time.

And in that moment, there was no-one else. It was just us. The three Brothers of Destiny.

But everything has to end. Everything has an end. And as we finally pulled away from each other, with sorrow in our eyes and a fierce love for each other in our hearts, I knew that our end was now.

I threw back my head and roared, yelling into the sky, summoning the bastard so that it could, finally end.

"MORDRED!"

He appeared, of course, in front of us, ever-present smirk visible on his face.

"Hello, my King."

* * *

**AN - like i said, a bit shorter than usual, but i needed it to stop there. and we get to the real action next chapter! mwahahahaha!**

**also - brothers feels or what! i'd say sorry (again) but i'm not :D**

**please leave a review! i don't get many any more! :(**

**-APP**


	24. Traitorous Thoughts

**AN - again! i'm sorry! argh! my internet died and we didnt get it back until just now! i'm sorry! this is happening far to often!**

**some surprises this chapter - even for me! it's a bit longer than usual, too, to try and make up for the short one last week :D hope you enjoy it!**

**disclaimer - see ch1**

**Line - Wisdom the young king has - SpangleyPony**

* * *

_Merlin_

He had appeared almost instantly, as if he had been waiting for the call.

And that smirk, if that was all I could have seen of him, I might have, for a second, believed him to be Morgana, so familiar was that smirk.

The aforementioned Sorceress herself was currently hidden out of sight, so as to provide a shock and/or a crucial distraction later on.

He surveyed the field with an almost cruel casualness about him, which immediately put me on my guard.

"He knows something we don't." I hissed to my brothers, and received two terse nods of agreement in return. Mordred smiled in amusement, as if he had heard what I'd said.

"What…wisdom the young King has." he said in amusement, before sweeping his eyes across the chosen field.

"Rather a nice set-up you've got here." he said, with a touch of sincerity in his voice that made me shiver "Roughly a thousand soldiers, plus a stockpile of weapons, several hundred druids hidden over there" he pointed at a large area of trees over to our right "and that doesn't even account for the several dozen sorcerers you have dotted around - I must say, you've done very well for only three days notice."

I gaped at him. There was no way he could have known all of that unless…

"A spy." I said, my heart sinking. "You've got a spy, right here, in the heart of Camelot."

I could feel the shock from our assembled troops, as I frantically tried to work out could of betrayed us, and what _possible_ reason they could have had for doing so. But it was hopeless. Without more information, it could've been anyone.

Mordred watched us, an amused smirk on his face.

"I'll tell you what." he said after a few minutes, in which I'd made exactly no process into working out who our traitor was. "Let's just hold it there."

With a quick wave of his hand, everyone on the field froze, as if they were encased in ice. It was just the two of us free, and I wondered what he hoped to achieve in this move.

"They can't move and they can't talk." He told me, as if he could read my thoughts. "You have to work this out on your own, Merlin. Also, I've bound your magic - just temporarily, of course." he paused, as if considering something, then added "I'll just tell you one more thing, then leave it for you to work out on your own." he paused, as if to add an extra dramatic flair to his point, before opening his mouth and dropping the biggest bombshell yet.

"_I know about Morgana."_

With those words, I felt my heart shatter even further.

For deliberate reason, only those of us who had been present in the clearing had known of Morgana. Of them, the only ones allowed to keep their memories of the encounter had been those who had travelled to the cave afterwards.

That left the nine worst suspects of all.

It hadn't been myself, nor would Kilgharrah have been able to tell someone something like that without my permission, not that I ever believed he would.

So seven.

I was also fairly sure that it hadn't been either of my brothers, and even if I hadn't, the looks of shock on betrayal would have convinced me. Neither of them had ever been particularly good actors.

Five.

Gwen would never betray Arthur, or so I hoped. I had witnessed their love as it grew and blossomed, and in my heart, I knew that Gwen would never be capable of anything like that.

Four.

Freya. I hated to believe that she would ever be capable of betrayal, especially of Camelot. But then again, I didn't want to believe that of anyone. But Morgana - Freya would never betray the one who had saved her. Or me, hopefully, for that matter.

Down to three. I didn't know how to proceed from here. Mordred seemed to sense my distress.

"How many left on your list, Merlin?" he asked me. "Surely not too many? You seemed to be taking your time working it out after all." When I didn't reply, he sighed.

"HOW MANY!?" he roared shocking us all slightly. I refused to let it show, though.

"Three." I admitted "I'm down to three."

He looked slightly impressed at that, unwillingly of course.

"Hm." he said "I would have guessed five or six still. But still, come on then, tell us who you've eliminated."

I swallowed, trying to get some moisture back into my throat.

"There were only nine who knew, besides Morgana herself." I told him. "Of the nine who knew, I've eliminated myself, obviously, Kilgharrah, Arthur, Gwaine, Gwen, and Freya." I told him. He looked slightly amused at this, and I wondered for a fleeting moment if I'd made a mistake.

"Very good." he told me, and I relaxed slightly. I'd been right so far.

"So who does that leave?" he asked, and I gritted my teeth. He knew full well who that left, he just wanted to cause suspicion among the soldiers. However, if I didn't answer, I had no idea what he'd do, so for now, I played along.

"It leaves Percival, Elyan, and Leon." I admitted, and if they had been able, I was sure I would have heard more than a few gasps from the assembled soldiers.

"Does it indeed?" He asked me. Then after a few moments, he spoke again.

"Let's bring them forward, let them watch you struggle over who you believed could have betrayed them, and in return, you can see their looks of horror that you could ever believe them _capable_ of that betrayal.

With another wave of his hand, The three were in front of me, still frozen. Another wave, and their faces unfroze. "They still can't speak." He told me "But now you can see how they feel about you belief of their betrayal."

I studied them closely, but could see no more evidence of who it could have been. After five minutes, Mordred sighed again.

"I'm getting bored, Emrys!" he told me in a sing-song voice, using my other name for the first time.

"I'll tell you what." he said suddenly. "Lets make this more…interesting."

Another wave and Gwaine unfroze, and was pulled forward by an invisible force until he was unwillingly stood next to Mordred, held fast be two of his soldiers who had materialised from no-where.

"For every extra minute you take to work it out past the starting time, that's how many times I'll cut your brother here. How's that sound?" I made no sound, but my eyes flashed dangerously. I didn't dare say anything for now, in case he decided to do something worse instead.

"I'll think we'll start….five minutes ago." he finished gleefully. Instantly, there were fifteen variations of cuts and slashes visible on Gwaine's arms through the cuts made through the fabric above them, as if they had been sliced through with an actual knife. Gwaine made a grunt of surprise at the sudden unexpected pain.

Throughout this time, my magic had been struggling, attempting to escape it's bonds. At this sudden sign of my brother being hurt inexpertly, it flared significantly, and I almost fell over from the strain. I was nearly through the barriers that Mordred had thrown up around it.

Before that, though, I needed to work this final piece of the puzzle out, before the next minute passed.

As I stared frantically at the knight, trying to get ANY sort of idea as to who it could have been, I finally brought myself to look into their eyes.

Looking at Percival, all I saw was a willingness to help his lover, to stop him from having to go through that pain. So I knew. He couldn't ever stand to hurt Gwaine, and he knew that Prophecy as well as us, knew what us losing would ultimately do, what the result would be.

"Not Percy." I muttered, but didn't wait to see his look of relief that I'd realised it wasn't him.

As I looked into the two pairs of remaining eyes, I remembered the Queen's fun-loving brother, and the knight who had always tried to remain as sober as possible, in order to help me with knight cleanup duty.

And as I looked into their eyes, ignoring Mordred's cheerful call of "Six minutes, Merlin!" from behind me, and the accompanying gasps from my brother at the further cuts, I saw a look of pain in both of their eyes. And then, as I looked deeper, I saw a flash, at the back of one of the pairs. A flash of emotion, deeply hidden, almost invisible, almost not there at all. Regret. And then instantly, I knew.

I spoke with a heavy heart. "Leon." I said. "The spy is Leon. But I don't understand why…"

I stopped when Mordred, smirked, and with a word, the guards dropped Gwaine. I darted forward to catch him just before he hit the ground.

"I'm alright." he murmured, getting clumsily to his feet, as I noticed the cuts on his chest, too.

"I'm sorry…" I told him, but he waved it off.

"I'm honestly not sure which position I'd have rather been in, mine or yours." he told me with a grim smile, which I didn't return. Mordred had been watching us with a touch of amusement. I could feel my magic bubbling just beneath the surface of my skin, itching to be freed. I was nearly through the binds.

"Yes, Leon, why did you betray them?" Mordred asked with a touch of amusement. "Speak up, I've returned your voice, they're all _dying_ to know." he said with a wicked look in his eyes. Leon fixed his gaze on us shamefully.

"I'm sorry, Merlin." He addressed me, rather than Arthur, possibly because he hadn't known me for as long, so hoped he wouldn't see such a deep sense of betrayal in my eyes, or possibly because I could currently talk, while my Brother couldn't.

"He has my sister."

Instantly I understood why he had done what he had, and I couldn't honestly say that I wouldn't have made the same choices he had under those circumstances.

After all, if there was one thing that I understood, it was a need to protect your family.

"That's okay, Leon." I told him "I understand." Even if I didn't fully believe the words at that moment, I realised that I could come to in time, with a proper explanation, of course. They were also the words that Leon needed to hear.

He nodded gratefully, and Gwaine looked at me as if I was mad. I ignored the look, for now. I was worried about what Mordred's next move could be.

He looked fairly furious that I'd forgiven his spy so easily, and for a moment I nearly grinned, before realising with a sense of dread that ultimately, this would only make him more dangerous.

This was clear when, a minute or so later, after what appeared to be some furious thinking on his part, he once again waved his hand, and caused a young girl to appear beside him. From the gasp Leon had attempted to stifle, along with an almost whimpered "Mina!" from Leon, I quickly realised that this must be his sister. My heart sank further.

Before I could even begin to take a step towards her, Mordred was speaking again.

"It seems you've outlived your usefulness." he told the girl with a sneer, before twirling his hand and plunging a conjured dagger into her chest. Then, with a final look to me, he spoke once more.

"Noon. Tomorrow. The centre field."

Then he vanished, without another word to anyone.

I, however, was barely paying attention to him. Instead, I had once again darted forwards to catch the person Mordred had released, leaving Gwaine swaying slightly where I had stood moments previously.

With a barely contained roar of anger, I lay her down gently on the ground. I sensed her heart was beginning to give out from shock, and with that, my anger at the injustice of it all broke through the barrier and my magic was free.

At that moment, the people around us unfroze, but I wasn't focusing on that either.

"LEON, GET OVER HERE, NOW!" I yelled, and barely a few second later, he was there, kneeling in the mud on the other side of his sister.

"I don't care about that right now!" I told him fiercely, as he opened his mouth, to apologise or say what I didn't know. "Now, I need you to help me save your sister. Hold her down!"

Without another word, or waiting for confirmation, I grabbed her arm and begin sending wave upon wave of magic through it into her heart, attempting to shock it into restarting.

As the minutes drew out, it seemed that it was just the three of us present, and I didn't even notice the silence of the soldiers watching us as I attempted to save the sister of a traitor in the middle of what was supposed to have been the battlefield, at a time which, only the day before, we had been planning to be doing battle.

After five minutes, when nothing had happened, I realised that there was nothing I could do.

As I sat up slowly, shaking slightly at eh amount of magic I had used, and removed my hands from her arm, Leon looked at me in pain and shock.

"I'm sorry." I told him gently. "There's nothing I can do."

**He looked around wildly. "Then surely Gaius or something…." he trailed off as I shook my head sadly.**

"I'm sorry, Leon."

He chocked over a few sobs, before looking up at me, and asking me simply "Why?"

I didn't need him to clarify. I knew exactly what he meant.

"Because she was a person. She was your sister. And it was very clear that she meant a lot to you. And just because of something you or anyone else did" he flinched imperceptibly at this "doesn't mean she didn't deserve to be saved."

I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I just told him softly "I'm sorry.", before rising shakily to my feet. Arthur was at my side in an instant, supporting me, with Gwaine on his other side. I flashed him a grateful smile."

"Today, a great injustice has been wrought. It made seem small to some, but to others, they have lost a great deal. I ask that you leave Leon alone until myself and my brothers have had a chance to speak to him."

I turned away from the soldiers I had been addressing, towards my brothers. I looked at them worriedly, anxious to know whether ort not they believed I had made the right decision. I received a small smile from both of them, and nodded slightly in return.

"Tomorrow, this battle begins. Again." I told them, as we moved off towards the destination Mordred had mentioned, before raising my voice and addressing the assembled soldiers once more.

"Let's move, people! We have a battle to win!"

Their answering cry seemed thin in the evening air.

* * *

**AN - ha! who expected that, then? ifyo u say you did, i might well acuse you of lying, as even i didnt know what was coming!**

**didn't get quite as far as i wanted with this chapter, but next chapter we WILL get to the real action. i promise :D**

**also, i want to know your opinions on who you want the prophecy to apply to. it wont make any difference - i already have it planned out - but humor me please? i'm curious :D **

**please review? it makes me happy, AND more inclined to write :D**

**-APP**


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